Nishter surgeon charged with molesting patient
MULTAN, April 7,2005: A horrific incident of sexual abuse allegedly committed by a professor at the Nishter Medical College and Hospital has been reported to the authorities concerned.
The incident is reported by the victim’s husband, who teaches English language and literature at a state-run postgraduate college.
When contacted, NMC&H Principal Executive Officer Prof Dr Shabbir Nasir confirmed that he had received a complaint in this regard. The principal said he had forwarded the complaint to the provincial health secretary, who is the competent authority to initiate an action against a high-ranking official.
Revealing the ordeal he and his wife faced at the premier health institution, the complainant said his son got his knee injured on Nov 26, 2004 and was admitted to the NMC&H where orthopaedic surgeon Prof Dr Ashiq Pervez operated upon him on Dec 2.
His wife also had a complaint about her neck and shoulder and she also got examined herself from the same professor. The family had to visit the professor fortnightly for follow-up treatment of the mother and the son.
On March 22, 2005, the doctor informed that it was now time to remove the screws affixed to the knee joint of the complainant’s son. They admitted the boy to the hospital’s family ward for the purpose. A night before the scheduled operation, the professor called the mother to her chamber under the pretext of viewing X-rays of the son. The complainant was away at that time.
The professor started molesting her on the pretext of examination and threatened her with dire consequences if she did not ‘cooperate.’ The threats included the one “remember I am going to operate your son the next morning (and anything can happen).”
She, however, managed to sneak out and retuned to the ward weeping and in a perturbed state of mind. Before the operation, the professor again called her on her cell phone to get her commitment about ‘cooperation’ fulfilled.
Immediately after the operation, the professor started compelling her to meet him in his office without bothering that her son had yet to come out of the drowsiness of anaesthesia he was administered for the operation.
Concerned about the life of her son, she however kept putting up excuses to avoid what the doctor was pressing her for. Meanwhile, she brought the matter to the notice of her husband and also disclosed the reason for her being extremely disturbed the night before their son was to be operated upon by the professor.
In the ensuing days at the hospital, the couple remained frightened as the professor kept on insisting her for ‘cooperation’ without knowing that the matter was also in the knowledge of her husband.
On Saturday last, the family left the hospital. “It was just like waking up after a long nightmare,” the victim said. The couple had called Dawn before leaving the hospital to listen to some obnoxious calls frequently being made by the professor.
The complaint said the objective of lodging the complaint was to expose the sexual abuse the people were subjected to in hospitals and clinics of doctors. “We are discouraged by our respective families to not register the complaint because in such matters society always finds fault with the victim (woman),” the couple said, pledging to fight come what may.
When contacted, Prof Ashiq pressed this correspondent not to publish the story because he was trying to ‘reconcile’ with the woman whom he had just examined but she thought that I was molesting her.
But when reminded about his calls Dawn had listened to, he giggled saying keep human error in mind. He even added: “God forgives mistakes of human beings.” He alleged that the woman had sent him some ‘seductive’ SMS from her cell phone. But when asked to show the messages, he said he had erased them all.
The professor had diagnosed her for Cervical Ribs but when recently the couple consulted some other senior orthopaedic surgeons, they rejected the diagnosis and said that she just had a muscular problem. But for being remained under treatment against a wrong diagnosis, her muscle tone has been damaged considerably. The complainant alleged that the wrong diagnosis was done only to prolong visits to the professor.
Source: Dawn
Date:4/7/2005
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