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Retired doctor dies in Karachi ‘after being denied treatment’ for COVID-19 at various hospitals

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A retired doctor, who had tested positive for COVID-19 a few days ago, died on Sunday morning after he was allegedly denied treatment at various public and private hospitals in Karachi.

“He was dying due to shortness of breath after testing positive for the novel coronavirus, but no hospital admitted him,” wife of Dr Furqan-ul-Haq, a retired practitioner of the Karachi Institute of Heart Diseases (KIHD), told The News on Sunday.

“He was taken to the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation [SIUT], and a private hospital in Azizabad where he used to work, but all of them said they had no beds available. He asked me to take him back home, where he passed away today.”

Dr Haq, the cardiologist who had recently retired from the KIHD and had also been associated with two private health facilities, had tested positive for COVID-19 along with his wife last week.

“He was in self-isolation at our residence in Gulshan-e-Iqbal where his condition deteriorated last night,” said the wife, “so he asked me to take him to any specialised hospital, but due to the unavailability of beds, he was turned away by three hospitals.”

The death of Dr Haq due to the unavailability of beds at the intensive care units of any health facility in Karachi, as reported by his wife, perturbed most of the people in the city.

Among those are especially the doctors’ fraternity, who expressed shock and anger over their colleague’s passing away, and demanded that the authorities take stock of the situation and ensure the availability of treatment to people.

A conversation between Dr Haq and one of his acquaintances over the phone during his last moments, in which he can be heard urging the person to use some connections to get him admitted at the Indus Hospital or any other health facility for treatment, also saddened the doctors’ fraternity.

The wife of the deceased Dr Haq who was continuously crying and blaming the authorities for her husband’s death said the Aman Ambulance service initially refused to take the critically sick doctor to any health facility without the assurance of the availability of bed.

She said that when the people from the ambulance service arrived, they took him from one hospital to the other until, in the end, he was dropped back home where he died. “He died at our residence in front of my and our daughters’ eyes.”

An official of the Sindh Rescue and Medical Services said the doctor was taken to the SIUT on Sunday at around 10am, but the facility refused to admit him because he did not have his COVID-19 certificate with him.

“The patient was brought back to his residence in Gulshan-e-Iqbal, from where he was taken to the Trimax Hospital, which refused to admit him. He was an employee of that health facility but they refused to treat him, after which he returned home.”

Officials of the SIUT, the Indus Hospital and the Ojha Campus (Dow University of Health Sciences) said they were under pressure due to the increasing number of COVID-19 patients, but in cases of extreme emergencies, they could admit any serious patient, especially a doctor who required critical care.

“We have 20 beds in the intensive care unit, of which 10 have ventilators,” said an official of the Indus Hospital. “These beds remain occupied these days, and whenever any bed is vacated, there are more patients waiting in the emergency.”

Sindh Health Department officials could not be approached despite repeated attempts to ascertain their version on the availability of beds in the intensive care units at various hospitals of the city.

The Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, the Dr Ruth KM Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi, the SIUT, the Ojha Campus, the Indus Hospital and the Aga Khan University Hospital are currently treating COVID-19 patients in the city.

https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/653748-retired-doctor-dies-after-being-denied-treatment
 
Third doctor succumbs to Covid-19 in Karachi after inability to find ventilator

Another doctor passed away on Sunday morning due to the coronavirus in Karachi, according to Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) Secretary General Dr Qaiser Sajjad.

Dr Furqanul Haq — who had recently retired from the Karachi Institute of Heart Diseases — is the third doctor in Karachi to have fallen victim to the disease. According to Dr Sajjad, the deceased needed to be put on a ventilator but could not find the facility despite visiting several hospitals.

"He had tested positive for the virus around four days ago and had self-isolated at home. But because he had heart troubles, he started having difficulty in breathing from Saturday," the PMA office-bearer said, adding that the wife of the deceased had also tested positive.

Dr Haq tried to get himself admitted to any of the isolation wards but was unable to receive medical treatment, he added.

"If a doctor in the country's biggest city cannot be given a ventilator then what will happen to common citizens?" Dr Sajjad questioned.

When asked if the Sindh government was facing a shortage of ventilators, Media Coordinator to the Health and Population Welfare Minister Meeran Yousuf said: "Ventilators and beds were available at CHK and JPMC. We’ve, however, initiated an inquiry [into] it."

Previously, Dr Abdul Qadir Soomro and gynecologist, Dr Zubaida Sattar had passed away in Karachi after contracting the virus.

Dr Sajjad said that doctors have repeatedly warned the government that the country's healthcare system will collapse if a strict lockdown is not imposed to curb the spread of the virus.

Doctors across the country have complained that the medical community was not being provided with personal protective equipment, making them vulnerable to the virus. They have also urged the government to impose a strict lockdown, saying that if not controlled, the healthcare system will not even have enough beds to accommodate all patients.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1554422/t...in-karachi-after-inability-to-find-ventilator
 
The doctor's wife just described her ordeal on a TV show. Heartbreaking.

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First few minutes.
 
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First few minutes.

Astaghfirullah, what kind of Jahil people are working in those hospitals when they refuse to admit a covid-19 patient. Everywhere on World the health care people are risking their lives to save people’s live and here you have a former doctor who can’t get into a hospital, isn’t this the whole purpose with hospitals? And what about those ambulance personell who refused to help the poor lady with moving here husband. This is schocking, really.
 
Astaghfirullah, what kind of Jahil people are working in those hospitals when they refuse to admit a covid-19 patient. Everywhere on World the health care people are risking their lives to save people’s live and here you have a former doctor who can’t get into a hospital, isn’t this the whole purpose with hospitals? And what about those ambulance personell who refused to help the poor lady with moving here husband. This is schocking, really.

Arary bhai! They pray 5 times a day and remember Allah five times a day! There you go Pakistani Muslims in a nutshell! Does Allah listen to the duas of such people? At least in the western countries, they treat the patient first before asking money for it. "Aik insaan ki zindagi bachana puri insaanyiat ko bachana hai".
 
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Sad, tragic, speechless... my condolences to the family that is all I can offer.
 
KARACHI: The Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation on Tuesday issued a statement clarifying that the institute had carried out an inquiry into the death of Dr Furqanul Haq who passed away last week from the coronavirus after being allegedly denied treatment at the hospital.

A spokesperson for the hospital claimed that there no record had been found of Haq being brought to the emergency ward of the institute. "All paramedics on duty were asked to clarify the matter," the spokesperson added. Security tapes also testify to this, the spokesperson added.

Sindh government launches inquiry
Haq, a retired doctor, tested positive for COVID-19 a few days ago, and died on Sunday morning after he was allegedly denied treatment at various public and private hospitals in Karachi, The News reported. The Sindh government subsequently launched an inquiry into the death.

“He was dying due to shortness of breath after testing positive for the novel coronavirus, but no hospital admitted him,” the wife of Haq, a retired practitioner of the Karachi Institute of Heart Diseases (KIHD), told The News on Sunday.

“He was taken to the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation [SIUT], and a private hospital in Azizabad where he used to work, but all of them said they had no beds available. He asked me to take him back home, where he passed away today," she said.

'Turned away by three hospitals'

Dr Haq, the cardiologist who had recently retired from the KIHD and had also been associated with two private health facilities, had tested positive for COVID-19 along with his wife last week.

“He was in self-isolation at our residence in Gulshan-e-Iqbal where his condition deteriorated last night,” said the wife. “So he asked me to take him to any specialised hospital, but due to the unavailability of beds, he was turned away by three hospitals," she said.

The death of Dr Haq due to the unavailability of beds at the intensive care units of any health facility in Karachi, as reported by his wife, led to outrage on social media and doctors expressed shock at the treatment meted out to their former colleague.

Also read: Family of Pakistani doctor who lost life battling coronavirus pay her glittering tributes

'Died in front of my eyes'
The wife of the deceased Dr Haq said the Aman Ambulance service initially refused to take the critically sick doctor to any health facility without the assurance of the availability of a bed for treatment.

She said that when the people from the ambulance service arrived, they took him from one hospital to the other until, in the end, he was dropped back home where he died. “He died at our residence in front of my eyes.”

An official of the Sindh Rescue and Medical Services said the doctor was taken to the SIUT on Sunday at around 10am, but the facility refused to admit him because he did not have his COVID-19 certificate with him.

“The patient was brought back to his residence in Gulshan-e-Iqbal, from where he was taken to the Trimax Hospital, which refused to admit him. He was an employee of that health facility but they refused to treat him, after which he returned home," the official added.

Officials of the SIUT, the Indus Hospital and the Ojha Campus (Dow University of Health Sciences) said they were under pressure due to the increasing number of COVID-19 patients, but in cases of extreme emergencies, they could admit any serious patient, especially a doctor who required critical care.

20 beds for virus patients at Indus Hospital

“We have 20 beds in the intensive care unit, of which 10 have ventilators,” said an official of the Indus Hospital. “These beds remain occupied these days, and whenever any bed is vacated, there are more patients waiting in the emergency.”

Sindh Health Department officials could not be approached despite repeated attempts to ascertain their version on the availability of beds in the intensive care units at various hospitals of the city.

The Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, the Dr Ruth KM Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi, the SIUT, the Ojha Campus, the Indus Hospital and the Aga Khan University Hospital are currently treating COVID-19 patients in the city.

https://www.geo.tv/latest/286464-no...r-being-brought-to-hospital-siut-spokesperson
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Shocking! Its reported that Dr Furqan died of coronavirus due to ‘lack’ of ventilators. Couple of days ago on my show Murtaza Wahab said there r more than 400 ventilators for Covid-19 patients in Sindh & only 18 covid patients are on ventilators. Why wasn't he able to get one? <a href="https://t.co/4pk0A0nsar">https://t.co/4pk0A0nsar</a></p>— Shahzad Iqbal (@ShahzadIqbalGEO) <a href="https://twitter.com/ShahzadIqbalGEO/status/1257331879465934848?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 4, 2020</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Shocking! Its reported that Dr Furqan died of coronavirus due to ‘lack’ of ventilators. Couple of days ago on my show Murtaza Wahab said there r more than 400 ventilators for Covid-19 patients in Sindh & only 18 covid patients are on ventilators. Why wasn't he able to get one? <a href="https://t.co/4pk0A0nsar">https://t.co/4pk0A0nsar</a></p>— Shahzad Iqbal (@ShahzadIqbalGEO) <a href="https://twitter.com/ShahzadIqbalGEO/status/1257331879465934848?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 4, 2020</a></blockquote>
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This is shocking and heartbreaking. Will there ever be any accountability for these statements?
 
Inquiry finds Dr Furqan's death result of Civil Hospital doctor's 'misjudgment'

A special committee formed by the Sindh government to probe the death of Dr Furqanul Haq – who became the third member of the medical fraternity in Karachi to have died from the coronavirus – concluded in its report that "misjudgment" on part of the medical officer at Civil Hospital was the cause of his death.

After he passed away on Sunday, Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) Secretary General Dr Qaiser Sajjad had alleged Dr Haq needed to be put on a ventilator but could not find the facility despite visiting several hospitals in the city.

Following these claims, on Monday night, Sindh Government Spokesperson Senator Murtaza Wahab announced a committee had been formed to investigate the matter and produce a report "within 24 hours".

According to the committee's report, issued on Wednesday morning, the on-duty doctor at Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK) who examined the patient showed negligence when he failed to admit him to the hospital despite availability of at least nine ICU beds.

However, the report also states that the patient was reluctant to be admitted to any hospital.

Recounting the events that led to Dr Haq's death, the report says he was diagnosed with the virus on May 1, after which the Sindh Health Department through a rapid response team was in contact with the patient until May 2.

On May 3, the doctor's condition worsened and he was advised to go to Indus Hospital by his niece, Dr Nida. However, foregoing this advice, Dr Haq planned a visit to Sindh Institute of Urology & Transplantation (SIUT) instead, on the advice of his colleague Dr Amir.

However, when an Aman ambulance arrived, it took Dr Haq to CHK, rather than SIUT. At CHK, Dr Haq was transferred by the emergency staff to the coronavirus control room, where he was examined by Dr Jagdesh, the medical officer on duty.

"Instead of admitting him, he (Dr Jagdesh) advised Dr Haq to contact the concerned doctor who had arranged a bed for him," the report says.

"Patient left in the ambulance and went home instead of any other hospital. On reaching home, his condition worsened and he was then taken to Trimax Hospital — which is where he worked privately," the report adds.

The doctor who examined Dr Haq at Trimax was of the opinion that he required specialist care with possibility of ventilation. At this point, the report says, Dr Haq was once again taken home after being "fed up".

"The family of the patient was not available for comments but the patient eventually went to (DOW University's) Ojha campus where he was announced to be brought in dead," the report says.

"The committee is of the view that there was a serious lack of communication. The patient should have been admitted by Dr Jagdesh in CHK since he was in no state to travel to Ojha or any other hospital."

The report also recommends initiation of disciplinary proceedings against Dr Jagdesh for "his misjudgement" – "an act of omission rather than deliberate" due to which a patient lost his life.

The claim that Sindh government was facing a shortage of ventilators was already refuted on Monday by Media Coordinator to the Health and Population Welfare Minister Meeran Yousuf, who claimed ventilators and beds were available at CHK and and Jinnah Hospital.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1554995/i...-result-of-civil-hospital-doctors-misjudgment
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">She is a senior gynaecologist n mother-in-law of Shehzad Roy...<br>Miserable state of affairs in Khi..<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/COVID19Pakistan?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#COVID19Pakistan</a> <a href="https://t.co/sGCUkep94I">pic.twitter.com/sGCUkep94I</a></p>— Nusrat Anis Drabu (@nusrat_anis) <a href="https://twitter.com/nusrat_anis/status/1257922081167114240?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 6, 2020</a></blockquote>
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