CHITRAL: A teenage girl died at the DHQ hospital Chitral late on Tuesday night three days after she was admitted with the complaint of appendicitis.
The relatives of the 13-year-old girl from Koghuzi village alleged that she died due to alleged negligence of doctors in providing her proper treatment on time.
The relatives and other people blocked the Chitral-Booni road in protest against the death of the girl on Wednesday. The road was later reopened after police and local administration officials held talks with the protesters.
The protesters said the girl died after battling for her life for three days in the hospital waiting to be operated upon.
When contacted, hospital’s Medical Superintendent (MS) Dr Rehman Afridi said the girl was brought to the hospital late on on Saturday. Her laboratory test conducted on Monday showed that the appendix had ruptured.
The MS said the girl died before an operation could be conducted. It could not be confirmed if the appendix had ruptured at the hospital or before she was admitted, he added.
People here demanded an inquiry into the matter and said though the KP government never tired of claiming to have made lots of improvement and introduced reforms in the health sector, the death of the child was an eye opener and showed there was still an urgent need to put things in order in hospitals.
It may be noted that there is only one surgeon at the hospital while scores of posts of doctors and consultants are lying vacant for years.–Nazir Hussain & GH Farooqui