MULTAN: A female doctor passed away from coronavirus at Nishtar Hospital on Monday.

Senior demonstrator of Pharmacology Department Dr Ghazala Shaheen died on Sunday night. She is the first doctor from Multan who lost her life because of a coronavirus.

Dr Rubina Mustafa, the sister of the deceased doctor, alleged that her sister died because of mismanagement as there was no senior doctor in the coronavirus intensive care unit, no ventilator while even cannula was not available for the patient.

On a social media forum Dr Rubina Mustafa said that when her sister developed Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome no senior doctor came to visit her.

“Her colleagues with whom she was more than two decades were only giving instructions on the phone while no senior doctor bothered to intubate. Poor trainee doctors are on the front line. Thank you so much corona ICU, senior doctors and anesthetists for mismanagement, carelessness and arrogant behavior. Bogus Nishtar, bogus healthcare system and minister and worst country to live where patients are buying medicines from black market and injection of Rs3,000 in Rs300,000, no PPE, no BIPAP (Bilevel Positive Airway Pressure) and no ventilators (are available),” she stated.

Probe into PIC medic’s death

She stated that her sister contracted coronavirus from the hospital while working where she served for more than two decades.

“We (are) more than 15 doctors (of a family) from Nishtar Medical College and served different specialties with dedication and still serving but unfortunately she was mismanaged. Illiterate people (are) saying (there is) no corona by shopping, celebrating Eid and putting our doctors on risk,” she stated.

According to official data, 44 patients are admitted to various isolation wards of Nishtar Hospital, of which eight are in critical condition. From April 1 to June 7, 78 people lost their lives because of the coronavirus in Nishtar Hospital. Up to 53 employees of the hospital, including 34 doctors, 13 nurses and eight paramedics and others, were affected by the virus.

“Majority of them have been discharged from the hospital and have rejoined their duty after recovery,” said Dr Irfan Arshad, focal person Nishtar Hospital.

Minister: Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid has ordered an inquiry into the death of Dr Salman Ali Iftikhar at the Services Hospital, Lahore.

Dr Salman’s colleagues and family blame negligence on the part of some Services doctors which led to his death Services Institute of Medical Sciences Principal Dr. Mehmud Ayaz says as per information available, Dr. Salman Ali Iftikhar, post-graduate resident at the Punjab Institute of Cardiology, was admitted to the SIMS Surgical

Emergency on the night between June 3-4 in critical condition with “BP less with shock reporting fever, abdominal pain and respiratory problem over the last three days. He was given emergency treatment which stabilized his condition for a short while but his condition again worsened and on reporting improvement, surgery was performed. After the operation, he was put on ventilator in the ICU. He could not survive and breathed his last three days afterwards on 7th June, 2020.”

He said that a high-level committee headed by Professor Mohammad Amjad has been constituted with Professor Nadeem Aslam (surgery), Professor Arif Nadeem (medicine), Professor Naila Asad (anesthesia) and Dr. Zubair Ahmed (AMS admin) as its members to probe into the circumstances and identify negligence, if any, into the death of late Dr. Salman Iftikhar.

The committee will submit its findings within 72 hours.

Published in Dawn, June 9th, 2020