Hospital ransacked after death of COVID-19 patient

KARACHI: Dozens of people vandalised the isolation ward of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) after a coronavirus patient under treatment at the facility passed away.

There was chaos and mayhem as relatives of the deceased attacked the medical facility, breaking the gate of the coronavirus ward, smashing windows and also damaged expensive medical equipment.

The 60-year-old patient was shifted from the Dow University of Health Sciences’ (DUHS) Ojha campus to the JPMC on Wednesday in a critical condition but died the next evening. The mob attacked the ward after the hospital management refused to hand over the body to the family without permission of the administration.

Rangers and Police were called to take control of the situation. Law-enforcement agencies have now been deployed at the hospital to prevent such incidents. JPMC Director Dr Seemi Jamali condemned the attack and said that the hospital was ransacked, creating fear and panic among the medical staff and other patients.

She said that no one can take a COVID-19 positive patient’s body without following certain guidelines as per the standard operation procedures (SOPs) of the government. She added the incident undermined the efforts of hardworking medical professionals who are risking their lives to protect others from the deadly disease in the line of duty.