Protests after bid to rape doctor

Punjab health minister suspends medical superintendent and principal at hospital

Members of the Young Doctors Association (YDA), in Pakistan’s Punjab province, were on strike yesterday after a cleaner allegedly tried to rape a woman medical officer in the emergency ward of a hospital.

The outpatient departments (OPDs) of most major hospitals in the province were closed, as the junior doctors protested against the sexual assault attempt, which took place on Wednesday at the hospital in Rahim Yar Khan, a remote district in south Punjab.

Demanding bill

Protesters demanded the registration of a First Information Report (FIR) and the passage of a doctors’ safety bill by the provincial assembly. The strike was observed in Lahore, Multan, Bahawalpur, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Sargodha, Gujranwala and other cities.

Reports said the doctor was by herself in the room when the suspect tried to overpower her.

However she screamed to alert the security guards and managed to escape the ordeal unscathed.

Security guards at the hospital took the suspect into custody and handed him over to the police.

The Punjab government suspended the medical superintendent (MS) and principal of the hospital and constituted a three-member committee comprising senior professors from the Quaid-e-Azam Medical College, Bahawalpur.

The committee was directed to complete its investigation and submit a report in 24 hours.