In an unfortunate incident on June 8, a fire broke out in the pediatric ward of the Sahiwal Reading Hospital that claimed the lives of 11 children, most of them newborns.
After the incident, the hospital’s spokesperson Dr. Farrukh Shahzad stated that the fire was caused by a short circuit in an air conditioner in the nursery ward after which the hospital staff moved the children to the emergency room and the surgery ward; the hospital even denied reports of children’s deaths in the incident.
However, Information Minister Punjab government Azma Bokhari spoke with BBC Urdu, and said, “Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif has rejected the report presented by the hospital and has conducted her own inquiry. Action has been ordered against officers of the hospital administration.”
During the CM’s visit to the hospital, it was found that fire extinguishers had expired since April and had not been maintained which is against safety protocols.
The CM was outraged at the hospital’s management for failing to provide fire extinguishing equipment even after the fatal incident.
CM Maryam Nawaz dismissed the hospital’s MS Akhter Hussain, Deputy MS Dr Usman Anwar, Assistant MS Dr Umer and Sahiwal Medical College Principal Prof Dr Imran Hasan.
However, when the Sahiwal police tried to arrest the doctors on CM’s orders, a clash took place between the police, hospital doctors and paramedics. The clash allegedly resulted in injuries to two dozen doctors and 30 paramedics.
The Young Doctors Association (YDA) led the protest, criticising the CM’s decision to arrest the senior doctors. It threatened to shut down all emergencies of public sector hospitals across Punjab if the detained doctors were not released.
The YDA has demanded the withdrawal of the suspension of senior doctors and action against the police officers involved in the baton charge.
District Police Officer (DPO) Sahiwal Faisal Shehzad held rounds of negotiations with the senior doctors and released all the doctors on orders of the Punjab government.
Maryam Nawaz also replied to a social media user on X (formerly Twitter) complaining of the government’s high-handed action against the doctors.
