KARACHI: Doctors and paramedics protested, blocked roads and chanted slogans against the administration on Saturday against the severe assault on a senior professor and his supporting staff by relatives of a patient.
Hundreds of junior and senior doctors, professors and their supporting and technical staff from the Dow University of Health Sciences protested on Karachi’s main Sarwar Shaheed Road, demanding for their protection.
The staff of the Civil Hospital, which has one of the largest emergency facilities in the city, was also shut down by the staff in reaction to the incident.
Hospital sources said that the patient, who was critically injured, was brought to hospital on Thursday night and later he succumbed to his injuries. As soon as the patient died, the relatives and friends of the patient started beating the hospital technicians and the doctor.
The Sindh chapter of Pakistan’s Medical Association (PMA); Young Doctors Association (YDA) and the paramedical staff decided to stage a protest and hold a strike at the out patients departments (OPDs) and the operation theatres of the government hospitals.
The Pro-vice chancellor of Dow University said that the senior government and police officers are likely to hold discussions with the University staff as well as the Civil Hospital where the incident took place. The meeting would discuss the security issue and how such incidents could be prevented in the future.
Elsewhere, nurses stopped working at the largest state-hospital of the city to protest against a doctor who insulted a female nurse on Friday.
The president of Pakistan Nurses Association Ejaz Jakhrani told the media that a doctor badly behaved with a nurse at the neurology ward of Jinnah Post Graduate Medical College (JPMC) and threw dirty water on her.
“Upon our persistent demand no disciplinary action has been taken against the doctor and thus we would continue our protest,” Jakhrani said.
