Senior Uruzgan doctor hits female patients

TIRINKOT (Pajhwok): A senior doctor has allegedly beaten some female patients who visited the lone hospital in this capital city of central Uruzgan province on Sunday, residents and officials said.

“A doctor hit us with a wooden stick after we arrived at the hospital,” said Malga, an elderly woman, who was accompanied by her three daughters and a daughter-in-law.

Malga was sitting an ambulance of the hospital and signs of wounds on her forehead and hands were visible.

She told Pajhwok Afghan News: “We spent four years waiting for our turn to be treated, as all of a sudden the hospital chief doctor, Yad Wali, came out of his chamber and started hitting female patients with a wooden stick.”

She said she got her head fractured twice and bruises to her other body parts. “As my family members tried to save me, the doctor hit them too.”

Another woman, who did not provide her name, said the doctor ruthlessly hit her. “If my husband finds me in this condition, he will definitely come and take revenge.”

Relatives of the women said the doctor should explain them what led him to beating the patients.

One Gul Mohammad said her mother was also among the victims and she had sustained injuries in the head. He warned if the government spared the doctor, he would himself give him a punishment.

Some junior doctors and guards at the hospital also confirmed the incident and said it was not the first of its kind. They said the doctor had previously done so many times.

Zalmai, a guard at the hospital, said many guards and workers wanted to expose the doctor in the media for his cruel behavior and maltreatment of patients.

The hospital director, Dr. Mohammad Nadir Rahman, confirmed the beating incident involving the chief doctor and called it far from professionalism and human values.

He said the hospital administration would decide on the doctor’s fate and whatever decision taken, they would implement that. After the incident, police arrived at the hospital and arrested the doctor, said Dr. Rahman.

But crime branch official at the provincial police headquarters, Col. Gulab Shah, said the doctor had been released after an investigation. He said the doctor had returned to work at the hospital.

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