SAHIWAL: All outpatient departments (OPDs) remained closed on Saturday in protest against the police action against the doctors, paramedics and staff of the Sahiwal Teaching Hospital and sacking and arrest of four senior doctors during Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz’s visit to the hospital on Friday.

Dawn learnt from sources that 236 house officers and 36 allied health staff, including the heads of departments and senior faculty members, submitted their resignations, saying they would not work under ongoing humiliation. They protested sacking of four senior officers, including the medical superintendent of the hospital, by the CM and police action that followed.

The protesters staged a demonstration in front of the Surgical Tower of the hospital.

Later, the Young Doctors Association staged a protest rally and blocked Sahiwal-Faisalabad Road for one hour. The strike call was given by the district chapter of YDA.

Three security guards, including a woman, working on daily wages were also booked and arrested by police. On the other hand, the firefighters of Rescue 1122 received the cash awards that the CM had announced for them for saving the lives of children from the hospital fire.

270 Sahiwal hospital doctors, other staff members resign; three guards arrested for taking bribes

The chief minister had taken action on the independent reports after multiple inquiries into the death of 11 children in the fire at the paediatric ward of the hospital on June 9.

According to some reports, more than 800 patients suffered because of closure of the OPDs while only the emergency ward was open and patients were being treated there by a limited number of junior doctors.

Dawn learnt from sources that OPDs at Tehsil Headquarters (THQ) Hospital Chichawatni, DHQ of Pakpattan, THQ Arifwala and DHQ Okara also remained closed.

On the other hand, the Punjab Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department has not yet issued termination letters for four doctors, namely Sahiwal Teaching Hospital’s MS Akhter Hussain, Deputy MS Dr Usman Anwar, Assistant MS Dr Umer and Sahiwal Medical College Principal Prof Dr Imran Hasan.

Three hospital security guards, including a woman, working on daily wages were arrested by Farid Town police after they were booked under sections of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) and Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

The guards were identified as Muhammad Imran, Ihsan Ali and Sobia. The case against them was registered on the complaint of a patient, named Hasam Rafique, resident of Barkat Town.

The guards were booked for taking bribes from patients to let them enter the paediatric ward on the night when the fire broke out. Mr Hasam had told the CM the other day that two male security guards demanded Rs2,000 and a female guard Rs200 for giving the patient’s attendants entry into the paediatric ward.

The chief minister had issued orders for the arrest of the security guards and district police had included 7-ATA in the case registered against them.

Interestingly, all the three guards arrested by police were not present on duty when the incident happened.

District Police Officer Faisal Shahzad said investigations were underway to establish whether the security guards were on leave or not.

The YDA condemned the inclusion of the 7-ATA in the case against the daily-wager guards.

The chief minister had announced Rs300,000 cash for five firefighters of the Rescue 1122 for saving the children when the fire broke out in the hospital ward. According to reports, 41 children were rescued by the parents themselves while more than 28 were rescued by the firefighters. The cheques were distributed among the rescuers by Commissioner Shoaib Iqbal on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the commissioner has written a letter to all public offices, heads of educational institutions, research institutes and hospitals to check and update their emergency firefighting systems.

Published in Dawn, June 16th, 2024