KARACHI: The chairman and vice chairman of a private hospital escaped from court on Tuesday after dismissal of their bail applications in the Nashwa death case.

Amir Waliuddin Chishti and Syed Ali Farhan, the chairman and vice chairman of Darul Sehat Hospital, have been booked in a case pertaining to the death of nine-month-old Nashwa who died allegedly after receiving improper treatment at the private health facility in Gulistan-i-Jauhar.

She was allegedly given improper treatment on April 7 that paralysed her and led to her death.

On Tuesday, their applications for confirmation of interim pre-arrest bail came up for hearing before an additional district and sessions’ judge (East).

Mr Chishti and Mr Farhan appeared before the judge, who after pursuing the case record and hearing arguments from the prosecutor and the counsel for the complainant dismissed their pleas.

Two other suspects had also escaped after an earlier hearing

The judge noted that the applicants’ interim bail could not be confirmed in the light of the material available on the record and circumstances of the case.

The same court, however, confirmed the pre-arrest bail of the hospital’s director Irfan Aslam.

Judicial staff and witnesses said Mr Chishti and Mr Farhan left the courtroom soon after the dismissal of their bail applications and easily escaped in the presence of police and investigating officer Mohammad Saleem Khan.

On May 3, chief medical officer Syed Sharjeel Hassan and night duty doctor/RMO Attiya Ahmed had also escaped from the same court after their interim pre-arrest bail was recalled.

Earlier, defence counsel Shaukat Hayat argued in the bail pleas that Mr Chishti being the chairman and Mr Farhan being the vice chairman of the Darul Sehat Hospital had been booked in the case with mala fide intentions and ulterior motives despite the fact that they had no direct role in the commission of the alleged offence.

He submitted that the role of the administration of the hospital had not been mentioned in the FIR in which the complainant initially stated that the minor girl had died because she was administered a wrong injection.

Later, the IO incorporated Section 302 (premeditated murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code in the FIR in the light of further statement purportedly given by the complainant, who took the unfortunate incident in some other direction, he added.

Advocate Hayat informed the judge that two medical staffers, who had committed the mistake of wrongly administering the injection instead of drip, had already been removed from the hospital. He deplored that it was unreasonable to seal the outpatient department of the hospital on the verbal orders of the Sindh chief minister.

The counsel said that the provincial health minister had ordered arrest of the doctors while the CM had ordered the inspector general of police to arrest whoever was found connected with the case “under pressure” from the media.

He pleaded to confirm the interim bail before arrest granted to his clients, as they would not abscond from the court or misuse the bail.

Complainant’s counsel Muneer Ahmed Gilal opposed the bail pleas stating that the applicants could not be given the concession of pre-arrest bail since negligence was demonstrated on part of the administration, as the child was administered the injection wrongly because the medical staffers were found to be untrained.

He further said that the applicants being the chairman and vice chairman of the health facility were responsible for such negligence in the administrative affairs, adding that the wrong injection had left the child paralysed and later led to her death. Therefore, he pleaded to dismiss the bail applications.

Last week, the IO filed an interim charge sheet against 13 administration and medical staffers of the hospital, including its chairman and vice chairman in a case registered against them under relevant sections of the law on the complaint of the child’s father.

The court had already issued non-bailable warrants for the arrest of five suspects allegedly absconding in the case including executive director Dr Shehzad Alam, nursing head Dr Rizwan Azmi, CMO Dr Syed Sharjeel Hassan, night duty doctor/RMO Dr Attiya Ahmed and Syed Shabbar Rizvi.

Four others detained in prison included nursing in charge Atif Javed, nursing assistant Agha Moiz, nurse Sobia Irshad and deputy administration officer Ahmer Shahzad.

Published in Dawn, May 8th, 2019