Karachi [Pakistan], October 21 (ANI): Medical associations have warned that growing harassment, violence and criminal proceedings against healthcare professionals in Pakistan are undermining the country's fragile healthcare system, with doctors increasingly reluctant to handle critical patients amid fears of legal action, as reported by Dawn.
According to Dawn, the warning follows several recent incidents, including the alleged assault of a female doctor in Lahore, the registration of first information reports (FIRs) against 27 doctors at Liaquat University Hospital in Hyderabad, and legal proceedings against medical staff at Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi. These developments have renewed concerns over the safety, professional independence and working conditions of medical personnel.
The Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) described the situation as alarming, warning that the country's healthcare delivery system was approaching a serious breakdown. Dr Abdul Ghafoor Shoro of the association said medical professionals were working under mounting psychological pressure, public humiliation and administrative harassment, prompting experienced specialists and younger doctors to consider leaving clinical practice or moving abroad.
Shoro argued that medical practice was increasingly being treated as a criminal activity, with physicians, surgeons and trainees facing murder-related charges under Sections 302 and 322 of the Pakistan Penal Code, alongside substantial compensation claims over adverse clinical outcomes. He also raised concerns over non-bailable arrest warrants reportedly issued against entire hospital departments, including senior professors, department heads and postgraduate trainees.
The PMA criticised authorities for referring medical negligence complaints directly to criminal courts instead of first submitting them to healthcare commissions or independent medical review boards. Shoro said bypassing specialist assessment exposed doctors to police raids, detention and legal harassment, even when they were working in under-resourced hospitals, as highlighted by Dawn.
The association stated that such conditions were encouraging defensive medicine, in which doctors might avoid risky procedures or hesitate to admit critically ill patients out of fear of prosecution. This, it said, could delay treatment, weaken emergency services and ultimately place patients' lives at greater risk, as reported by Dawn. (ANI)
Pakistan’s hostile healthcare environment pushes doctors towards defensive medicine
