PESHAWAR: The members of TransAction Alliance and representatives of civil society have rejected the inquiry report on death of Alisha, a transgender person who died at Lady Ready Hospital about two months ago.

Addressing a news conference at Peshawar Press Club on Monday, TransAction Alliance president Farzana Jan alleged that the administrative officials of the hospital, who were responsible for the death of Alisha, were protected in the inquiry report.

She said that the committee, formed by the government to probe the causes of death of injured Alisha, was consisted of the hospital staff and government officials.

Not a single member of the transgender community and family of the deceased was inducted in the committee or was a part of it in any way to represent the deceased, Farzana said. She said that the family members and guardians of the deceased or members of transgender community were not intimated regarding the constitution of the committee and its proceedings.

Transgender community says probe protects LRH officials responsible for the incident

She said that the committee didn’t record any statement of the attendants and friends of the deceased, present with her in the hospital.

“The terms of reference of the committee were not relevant to our desire and we were never consulted on the TORs. The current report only reflects administrative flaws by the hospital but it doesn’t say anything about the behaviour of the hospital staff, which is our primary concern,” she added.

Farzana said that instead of penalising the real culprits, the committee fired irrelevant doctors.

She said that Dr Liaquat was the only doctor in LRH who helped the transgender persons and supported them but he was fired despite the fact that his name was not included in the inquiry.

She alleged that chairman, director medical, director hospital and Prof Shabuddin were responsible for the death of Alisha but no action was taken against them. She said they rejected ToRs of the report because those did not cover the transphobia, faced by the patient and the attendance.

“Dr Liaquat, who supported us and treated us well, has been fired without any reason while no action has been taken against the people against whom legal action was recommended,” said Farzana

Speaking on the occasion, Qamar Naseem said that they demanded medical and administrative audit of LRH. The administration was running the hospital like a private property while it was a government entity and a public property and everyone should be treated there with respect without any discrimination, he added.

Taimur Kamal of Pakhtunkhwa Civil Society Network said on the occasion that civil society stood with transgender people and would play its role in ensuring their access to quality healthcare.

Published in Dawn, August 2nd, 2016