KARACHI: The horrific acid attack on a female doctor inside a government hospital in Quetta two days back drew strong condemnation from healthcare providers as they held protests at several hospitals across Sindh, demanding that the government immediately provide foolproof and robust security to healthcare professionals, especially female doctors, across the country.
On Saturday, Dr Mahnoor Nisar was seri-ously injured at the Civil Sandeman Hospital, Quetta when an employee of the facility threw acid on her. The doctor was rushed to Karachi, where she is currently under treatment at the Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH).Sources said that Dr Mahnoor is stable with no lifeor organ-threatening signs. She suffered 13 per cent burns, with 7-8pc deep patches, with the rest of superficial burns.
Her reports show bilateral corneal abrasions, which will be managed conserva-tively. She will be admitted to a special care unit under plastic surgery services, the sources added.
On Monday, Young Doctors Association (YDA) gave a protest call and observe a ‘black day’ at the Jinnah PostgraduateMedical Centre (JPMC).
Expressing solidarity with the victim, the doctors taking part in the demonstration described the attack as deeply alarming that, they said, indicated the highly vulnerable conditions in which doctors, especially female doctors, were forced to work in.
‘This situation is simply unacceptable.
The government must act fast as healthcare providers are losing faith in the public system,’ said YDA Pakistan’s patron-in-chief Dr Umer Sultan.
He said that harassment at the workplace was rampant in the county and urgent measures were required to address it. He also extended the association’s support to colleagues demanding pay-raise in Kyber Pakhtunkhaw.
Call to declare hospitals protected zones Senior Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) official Dr Abdul Ghafoor Shoro has written a letter to the prime minister, demanding an urgent high-level meeting between government leadership and medical stakeholders to finalise a national healthcare security protocol.
‘The Pakistan Medical Association can no longer stand by as our healers are systematically targeted, terrorised and murdered while serving the nation.
The escalating wave of violence against doctors has reached an unsustainable crisis point, threatening the absolute collapse of our healthcare delivery system,’ the letter reads.
It highlights how doctors have been subjected to violence and, in several cases, brutally murdered Dr Mahnoor was attacked inQuetta, Dr Sarang Memon was shot dead in Karachi, Dr Mehwish Hasnain was killed in broad daylight in Kohat, Dr Warda was murdered in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in December last year and Dr Sheikh Mahmood was gunned down inside his own private hospital last year in May.
‘Beyond these extreme tragedies, our healthcare workers face daily threats of physical assault, hospital ransacking and intimidation by violent mobs in emergency wards across the country.
‘This pervasive atmosphere of terror and insecurity is no longerjust anoperational hazard; it has begun to destroy the very foundation of medical education in Pakistan,’ the association regrets.
‘Doctors cannot heal when they feel fear for their lives. If the state cannot guarantee the basic right to life for its frontline saviours, we will face an irreversible brain drain and a total collapse of enrolment, leaving our public hospitals completely devoid of qualified medical professionals,’ it adds.
The association demanded that the prime minister declare hospitals as protection zones and implement strict, armed security protocols at all public and private hospitals, restricting uncheckedpublic entry into critical care areas.
‘Pass and rigorously enforce specific federal legislation that categorises any assault on a healthcare worker or medical facility as a non-bailable, high-priority offence with exemplary punishments.
‘Hold hospital administrations and local law enforcement directly accountable for lapses in the workplace safety of postgraduate trainees, house officers, and senior staff particularly female doctors who face intersectional vulnerabilities.
‘Establish special judicial oversight to ensure the swift prosecution of those who incite or execute violence against medical professionals,’ it says.