PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Thursday sought a reply from the Board of Governors (BoG) of the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) over the closure of the cardiovascular surgery ward of the hospital.
A division bench comprising Justice Syed Afsar Shah and Justice Abdul Shakoor restrained the BoG from taking any adverse action against the doctors of the cardiovascular surgery ward till a decision on the case. The bench issued the restraining order in a writ petition filed by six senior doctors of the ward.
During the hearing, Qazi Jawad Ihsanullah, counsel for the petitioners, submitted that petitioners were senior professors of the cardiovascular surgery ward of the LRH and had been in charge of the surgery section of the ward in the hospital for over two decades.
He argued that recently the BOG of the LRH Medical Teaching Institution through a notification closed the cardiovascular surgery ward with the observation that the rate of mortality of the heart patients had increased.
The lawyer submitted that the death rate was increased in the ward due to lack of facilities and equipment needed for the heart patients and the faculty members had time and again sought those facilities.
He said instead of providing required facilities and equipment to the ward, authorities launched conspiracies against the senior most doctors of the ward and defamed them for the hike in the fatalities.
The counsel said the hospital management first on February 4 temporarily stopped surgeries at the ward. Despite lack of facilities, the faculty members conducted operations but the ward was permanently stopped by the management.
He submitted that LRH was the only government-run hospital of the province where cardiovascular surgeries were being carried out. He said the poor heart patients had been deprived of the treatment after the closure of the ward. The counsel said the hospital management had reduced surgeries time to three hours, while normally five to seven-hour time was needed for cardiovascular surgery.
Reports indicate that they tried to breach one of gates, harassed staff, and even scaled walls of premises
Nasir praised role of Interior Minister Syed Mohsin Naqvi, who controlled situation with tolerance
A fierce exchange of fire ensued, but culprits managed to escape under cover of darkness
Police said booked leaders and BYC workers gathered at main Turbat Chowk
Mobile internet outages became common fixtures during protests by PTI since Imran was ousted in 2022
Bokhari emphasised that cases have been registered against "Fasadis", and no one will be spared
