KARACHI: The Sindh government formed a committee late Monday night to probe the death of Dr Furqanul Haq – the third member of the medical fraternity in Karachi to have fallen victim to the coronavirus – after it was initially alleged he had died because he could not be provided a ventilator in time.
The development was confirmed by Sindh Government Spokesman Senator Murtaza Wahab who shared the notification in a late night tweet. According to the notification, the committee will submit its report “within 24 hours”.
Dr Haq — who had recently retired from the Karachi Institute of Heart Diseases — was not actively engaged in the treatment of Covid-19 patients.
According to Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) Secretary General Dr Qaiser Sajjad, Dr Haq died on Sunday after he needed to be put on a ventilator but could not find the facility despite visiting several hospitals in the city.
When asked if the Sindh government was facing a shortage of ventilators, Media Coordinator to the Health and Population Welfare Minister Meeran Yousuf had said yesterday that ventilators and beds were available at CHK and JPMC. “However, we’ve initiated an inquiry [into the matter],” she said.
On the other hand, Indus Hospital CEO Dr Abdul Bari claimed Dr Haq had delayed medical treatment because of the social stigma associated with contracting the coronavirus.
Speaking on a private news channel on Monday night, Dr Bari said: “His niece works at our hospital [Indus Hospital] and she had insisted he get himself admitted but he had refused, thinking that the news of his diagnosis would spread in the neighbourhood.”
Dr Bari confirmed that the deceased did not visit Indus Hospital.
According to data from April 30, at least eight healthcare workers have died from the coronavirus so far in Pakistan. The first known Covid-19 fatality among the local medical community occurred in Gilgit Baltistan when a young doctor, Usama Riaz, succumbed to the disease in March.
