Amal death case: Sindh Health Care Commission's report raises questions

KARACHI: The Sindh Health Care Commission (SHCC) prepared a conflicting report relating to the death of Amal in which the private hospital where she was treated was held responsible yet in the concluding note, the commission's chairperson stated otherwise. 

The report was shared by Amal's father Umer on a Facebook page titled "Justice for Amal". 

"The SHCC report shared with us on the 13th of November after a thorough investigation clearly states that National Medical Centre should be penalised on their negligence and callousness. 

"On the other hand the SHCC chairman’s conclusion that was later submitted directly to the Supreme Court  is a blatant contrast to their own findings.

"Shocked at this discrepancy. If the regulatory body colludes with the hospitals then what’s the use of passing any bills or acts," he wrote. 

On August 13, 10-year-old Amal Umer lost her life after being hit by a stray bullet during a police encounter in Karachi’s Akhtar Colony area.

The bullet that hit Amal was from an AK-47 and was fired by a policeman attempting to kill a bandit, who had robbed the 10-year-old's family a few minutes earlier as they waited at a traffic light to attend a concert on the eve of Independence Day.

"We were travelling from Korangi Road towards FTC when a man approached us at the signal and asked us to hand over everything," Amal’s father, Umer, had recalled while speaking on Geo Pakistan.

“There was a lot of traffic at the signal at the time. The man took my wife’s phone and bag and then told us to roll up the windows and left,” he continued. "As soon as I started the car, we heard a gunshot and a bullet suddenly hit our windshield."

Naturally, Umer and his wife, Beenish, turned back to check up on their two daughters sitting in the backseat, who they had asked to lie down when they heard the gunshots.

"When I turned, I saw Amal lying in a pool of blood and my other daughter clutching my seat," Umer said.

Panicked, Umer tried to rush to nearby National Medical Centre (NMC). "I rolled down my window and asked people to clear the path. We did not know where the bullet had hit, as her hair was in her face and her eyes were open but there was a lot of blood,” he said.

Luckily, they reached the hospital in three to five minutes. But, according to Umer, instead of being given immediate treatment, the hospital staff intubated Amal and attached an ambu bag and asked them to take her to Jinnah hospital as she "did not have much time” and this was a medico-legal case.

But the hospital initially did not even help them arrange an ambulance, Beenish said.