islamabad - An unidentified armed man on Tuesday breached the security of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), by entering the hospital premises and physically thrashing an on-duty female doctor, official sources informed The Nation. The unknown attacker managed to flee the scene.
According to hospital officials, the incident occurred around 4 am inside the doctors’ duty room surgical ward No.6 where no patient or attendant is allowed to enter.
“We heard screams and calls of help of the female house officer,” said a witness speaking on condition of anonymity.
The doctor said that the man had slapped her and tried to suffocate her by placing pillow on her mouth. As a result, the woman suffered injuries on her face and hand.
According to the victim, the incident is a great lapse of security at the hospital as the security staff was unable to capture the man on the spot.
No CCTV cameras were installed inside or in the corridors of the ward and hospital administration received a sketchy picture of the accused from the exit point, said officials.
They added that the house officer was rescued by the security staff later, while the unknown attacker dropped his mobile phone in the brawl which was handed over to the police for tracing him.
Meanwhile, the Young Doctors Association (YDA) of PIMS in its initial message on social media called the incident an alleged rape attempt on the house officer and staged protest against the administration for failing to provide foolproof security to doctors on call on night shifts.
“Extremely shameful incident occurred in the morning today. There was an attempt to rape and physically torture a female doctor in the duty room by unknown person in SW-6. The incident occurred due to failure of security and administration,” the statement on the YDA Islamabad, PIMS official page said.
However, later, the pressure of hospital administration the YDA leadership called it a robbery attempt and demanded the administration to provide a safe environment to the staff.
Representative YDA, Dr. Shafiullah talking to The Nation said that “We want proper investigation of the incident whether it was murder, robbery or attempt to rape,” he said.
However, a female doctor of the same ward, rejecting the hospital administration’s claims, denied the possibility of a robbery attempt.
“There is nothing to be robbed at the surgical ward-6 while the staff also do not carry precious items with them,” she said.
She said that it’s a complete security lapse on the part of administration and femlae doctors have repeatedly asked the top management to address the issue.
PIMS Administrator Dr. Raja Amjad Mehmood though didn’t share the nature of the incident but said that the accused has been traced and a case has been registered with police on the recommendations of the hospital administration.
The letter of lodging FIR by the PIMS administration available with The Nation declared the incident a robbery attempt.
“Please find enclosed herewith an application submitted by the in-charge security department, PIMS regarding dacoity on gun point in Surgical Ward-VI PIMS. It is requested to register an FIR for the above incident and take urgent measures in this regard,” said the letter.
According to the statement given in the police the PIMS administration said that a female house officer was on the way to nursing counter at 4 am in the morning, when an unknown person in blue shirt and white trousers crossed her path and held her hostage on gun point.
The accused tried to snatch the purse and mobile phone of the female doctor, manhandled her, as a result of which she fell on the floor and received injuries on face and hand.
Hearing the sounds of scream in the corridor, a doctor and house officer on duty rushed to rescue the doctor but the accused also held them on gun point and looted their purse with Rs7500 cash and wrist watch.
PIMS administration filed the application on behalf of assistant security officer and said that the accused threatening the staff of the surgical ward fled the scene.
