The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa health department has requested Lady Reading Hospital’s (LRH) board of governors to act upon the findings of an inquiry conducted against the mistreatment of a transgender, Alisha, who died of gunshots last month.
According to reports, “The inquiry has found the medical director, hospital director and professors of the surgery and orthopaedic wards of committing criminal negligence, recommending strict action against them.”
They said that government wanted the LRH board of governors to implement the recommendations of the inquiry. Cases against them in court would be submitted for criminal negligence, said sources quoting the report, submitted to health department the other day.
The report said that the patient could have been saved if an urgent operation was performed. The five-member inquiry committee, tasked by the government to probe into the death, has recommended criminal cases against the top officials to prevent such incidents in future.
The patient, who sustained injuries in different parts of the body, wasn’t attended to as an emergency which led to profuse bleeding due to which he died, said the report. “The health department can terminate them from services after lodging criminal cases in the court,” it added.
Proper legal action has been proposed against the officials and professors to prevent such cases in future.
The acting medical director of LRH pleaded before the panel that he was on leave when the incident took place and responsibility lies with the hospital director, who was required to facilitate smooth treatment of Alisha. However, the committee nominated both of them in the case.
The report also recommends lodging FIR against the top officials of the hospital. The patient was first received at the accident and emergency department (A&ED) from where the 25-year-old transgender person was sent to the surgical ward where the medical officer didn’t bother to call senior registrar and failed to carry out an immediate operation and do the needful, according to reports.
There was no consultant at the accident and emergency department. The patient was referred to the orthopaedic ward, after the hospital staff’s inability to allot a bed to the patient either in male or female ward.
On May 24, the patient was again examined by doctors on the call of the orthopaedic ward. The patient was operated upon but died early next day.
The inquiry will also embolden the junior doctors to call their seniors in case of emergency situation.
The government rejected the first report for being too mild and formed another committee but it is not in a position to take action against the hospital staff owing to enforcement of Medical Teaching Institutions Reforms Law, 2015 after which LRH is an autonomous hospital free from government’s control.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa health department has requested Lady Reading Hospital’s (LRH) Board of Governors to act upon the findings of an inquiry conducted against the mistreatment of a transgender person, Alisha, who died of gunshots, on May 26.
