A video of Burewala Assistant Commissioner (AC) Jawad Hussain Malik questioning a female doctor at THQ Hospital Burewala during an official visit has sparked a wave of anger on social media, with many calling his conduct disrespectful and abuse of authority.
In the video, the AC can be seen picking up a paper slip and questioning the doctor on duty about it. “Yeh kis liye pari hui hai – requisition slip? What’s the purpose, tell me. Bibi, I am asking you, tell me,” he said incessently.
The use of the word ‘Bibi’ instead of the more conventional and polite ‘Doctor Sahiba’ drew the sharpest criticism online, with many pointing out that addressing a doctor in that manner inside a hospital, in front of patients, and while recording her, crossed a line.
One user on X who said they had worked at THQ Burewala wrote that it is “one of the finest but craziest overcrowded THQs” where “a single doctor deals with 400 to 500 OPD patients in a single shift.”
They added that CT scans at the facility were strictly advised under consultant opinions, and said their “blood was boiling” watching the video.
Another user wrote that the AC appeared to be asking the doctor to issue a CT scan slip for a patient who had been waiting since morning, something that requires a consultant’s approval first. “Who gave him this authority to order around and disrespect this on-duty doctor?” they wrote.
Several users took aim at the AC’s tone and conduct directly. One called it “pure bureaucratic arrogance,” writing that “doctors, especially female healthcare workers serving patients under difficult conditions, deserve dignity and professional respect, not public humiliation by state officials.” Another simply wrote: “This is my first time seeing a donkey in a grey coat”.
Others questioned the nature of such visits altogether, with one user writing that government hospital visits of this kind are “PR stunts” and asked whether such visits happen in the UK, Gulf, or North America “where patient privacy carries ultimate value”.
Not all reactions were against the AC. One user said his attitude was “totally wrong and unjustified” but added that “technically, he is right,” noting that documentation matters in healthcare settings.
Another wrote that as long as doctors and bureaucrats are paid by public taxes, “they are answerable to the government and the people of Pakistan”.
Some directed criticism at the hospital’s Medical Superintendent as well. “If only that MS had a spine, it wouldn’t have happened in the first place. When you are in charge, you don’t let your subordinates be bullied by some outsider, no matter who he happens to be,” one user wrote.
The AC’s visit was officially described as a “detailed round” of the hospital to check OPDs, special clinics, the pharmacy, and the emergency ward to “ensure the availability and utilisation of resources”.
