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argument Deadly songs Yeh Woh comment Fata’s
polio problem Burning
issue
argument Talat Bibi is too
old and feeble to walk without a cane. She has wrinkled skin, cracked hands
and perpetually moist eyes; at least ever since her son was killed twelve
years ago. And last Saturday, soon after dawn, she made the three-hour
journey (changing 2 buses) from her village near Kasur to the Sessions Court
of Lahore in order to attend the court hearing in her son’s murder trial
that has now lasted for over a decade, with no end in sight. And like
countless times in the past, she arrived in the courtroom only to find out
that no proceedings would take place since the lawyers were on strike, in a
show of solidarity with the Chief Justice and the honourable Supreme Court
regarding the Dr. Arsalan saga. As it turns out, Talat
Bibi’s story was replicated all through Pakistan this week, as lawyers
across Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa, Gilgit and AJK expressed their
solidarity with the apex Court through a boycott of all court proceedings and
staging of demonstrations. Just in Punjab alone, more than fifteen thousand
cases were not heard. This, for all its virtues, is the saddest part of the
legacy of the lawyer’s movement. In the aftermath of Malik
Riaz’s allegation that Dr. Arsalan, son of the honourable Chief Justice,
had extorted over 300 million rupees from the real-estate baron on the
promise of favourable decisions from the apex court, the bar councils across
Pakistan were faced with an existential question of unprecedented
proportions: was it possible that the integrity of Chief Justice’s family
members, or (bite your tongue) a judge of the apex court, be put to question?
Could it be that the long arms of the law will have to extend inwards, into
the cathedral of justice, to investigate its prodigal son? With a momentary pause
(though before the Supreme Court judgment) bar councils across Pakistan broke
their silence. Lending voice, once again, to the battle-cry of ‘Chief tere
ja’nisaar…’, the bar councils almost unanimously declared that the
entire episode was a ‘conspiracy’ and anyone siding with Malik Riaz was
committing a sin against justice itself. Several bars banned the entry of
Zahid Bukhari, Aitzaz Ahsan and the Attorney General. In Lahore, a group of
rowdy lawyers chanted slogans during the general meeting of the Lahore High
Court Bar Association, preventing the office-bearers from completing their
speeches. Despite attempts by the bar president to ‘discuss’ the issue
before concluding on the matter, members deemed such discussion objectionable
and shouted “Rally hoge! Rally hoge!”. Similar scenes were
observed at a conference of all bar associations of Sindh hosted by the KBA.
Effigies of Malik Riaz and his counsel were burned. Multan Bar Association
announced that it would award a “gold medal” to the man who leaked the
behind-the-scenes video of Malik Riaz’s controversial interview on Dunya
TV. No one spoke of due process
of law. No one argued in favour of legal finding of facts. No one talked
about transparency of investigation. No one discussed that being represented
by a counsel of choice is a fundamental right in our constitutional paradigm. What are the reasons behind
this frenzy in the bar? Why are the custodians of law fanatic about defending
personalities, and cavalier about upholding the law itself? To understand
this better, the psychosis of our bar needs to seen in the backdrop of the
Lawyer’s Movement. The Lawyer’s Movement,
for all its gains, has had a tragic hangover for the legal community. Prior
to 2007, an average member of the district bar was primarily concerned with
attracting clients and earning a living. He didn’t have much work, and
could barely make ends meet. The bar’s social influence (read:
nuisance-value) did not extend far beyond the contours of the court premises.
For the civil administration, the public at large, and especially for the
media, the bar was largely irrelevant. The Lawyer’s Movement changed all
that. Suddenly the district bar found itself centre-stage in a national
drama. Boycotting of the courts, blocking the roads, even thrashing police
officials were seen as outbursts of some nationalistic fervour, in the
pursuit of the ideals of justice. Members of the bar became local celebrities
of sorts, featured on the 9 ’o clock news each night, as the nation rallied
behind them. And then suddenly, it was
all over! The judges were restored to
their rightful place, and there was no more ‘protesting’ to do. And while
the illustrious leaders of the Lawyer’s Movement went back to their
lucrative practice, the bar did not know how to return to the barracks. It
had tasted blood, and was not unwilling to go back to the humdrum of
civilized legal practice. And since 2009, this frustration, along with a
desire to reclaim its importance, has resulted in the thrashing of Sessions
Court judges, showering of rose-petals on Mumtaz Qadri and breaking down the
windows of Chief Justice’s courtroom in LHC. The genie is out of the
bottle now; and no one knows how to put it back again. And sadly, no leader
among the bar politics, is strong enough to tame the beast. No one seems
capable of explaining to the bar that it is our right — nay, our duty —
as lawyers to debate (even criticise) a judgment of the court on its merits.
No one is able to tell them that the idea of judicial accountability is not
blasphemy, but is instead the very bedrock of justice. No one has the courage
to illuminate to them that blind loyalty to an institution or a judge or his
family, without the right to question, is a betrayal of the very ideals that
the Lawyer’s Movement symbolised. I have been warned, by
friends and colleagues, that writing this is an act of infidelity to the
‘legal community’ that I belong to, and to the brotherhood that I am part
of each time I put on the black coat. Respectfully, I disagree with them.
This is not an act of infidelity to anyone. It is a statement of my
conscience… a cry of fidelity to that unspoken oath that each lawyer takes
— not to any person (even if it that person is the Chief Justice) or
institution (even if the institution is judiciary), but instead to the law
itself! My Constitution allows me
the freedom to think and speak, even if such thought and speech is unpopular
or contemptuous. Imagine a country in which every black coat swore allegiance
to the empire of law, and not to no one else. Wouldn’t that be a sight! Qanoon tere ja’nisaar…
Beshumaar! Beshumaar! The writer is a lawyer
based in Lahore. He has a Masters in Constitutional Law from Harvard Law
School. He can be reached at: saad@post.harvard.edu
Deadly
songs Ghazala Javed was
among those celebrities who earned fame all over the world overnight (at
least in parts where Pashto music is listened) but could not enjoy it for
long. The unfortunate young and good-looking Pashto singer was shot dead in
the famous Dabgari Bazaar in Peshawar on June 18 when she was coming out of a
beauty parlour along with her father, Javed, and younger sister, Farhat. Her
father was also killed while Farhat remained unharmed. Before Ghazala, a budding
Pashto singer, Ayman Udas was killed allegedly by her brothers inside her
flat on the outskirts of Peshawar in April 2009. The family was against her
singing and seeking divorce from her first husband to marry a man of her
choice. In November 2010, another Pashto singer from Quetta, Yasmin Gul, was
found dead inside her house in mysterious conditions. A dancer, Naheed, was
killed by robbers while returning from a concert a couple of years ago. Many male and female
singers had to leave Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa after threats from militants. Ghazala
Javed was also among those who migrated from Swat to relatively safer
Peshawar. While leaving the scenic
Swat valley in 2007 to escape the wrath of the Taliban in her troubled
hometown (like dancer Shabana who was hanged by the militants), Ghazala would
have never thought of such fame. She was an ordinary dancer who used to dance
and sing in weddings and other local functions. Just a single performance on
a local television channel opened new avenues of fame for the talented shy
Swati girl and earned her thousands of fans. It was like a dream start
for Ghazala Javed who signed several agreements with musicians and local
producers within no time, thanks to her pretty looks. Her portraits were made
covers of hundreds of CDs. Her albums were selling like hot cakes. She paid a
number of visits abroad on the demand of her fans. Several other young females
were encouraged by the popularity Ghazala Javed had gained in a short time.
Musarrat Mohmand, Urooj Mohmand, Saima Naz and Gul Panra were all those
female Pashto singers who were inspired by the fame that Ghazala got in
singing. Like in cases of most of
the celebrities, several influential and well off people wanted to marry
Ghazala Javed. She finally decided to marry a Peshawarite, Jehangir Khan,
with a promise to quit singing forever. But the wedding did not prove a
success and she had to move a family court for separation from Jehangir. She
and her family were threatened for demanding Khula (separation) and planning
to restart singing. “He (Jehangir) was after
us since Ghazala had left his home. He used to follow us and get our cellular
phone numbers whenever we used to change it,” Farhat, the eyewitness of the
murder of Ghazala and her younger sister, told police. She added that on the
night of June 18, she and Ghazala had decided to go to the beauty parlour
together and had asked her father to pick them after some time. The two sisters, along with
their father, were coming back from the beauty parlour when they were
ambushed by armed men. The attackers were more interested in ensuring the
death of Ghazala as she received six bullets on her chest and stomach while
her father received only one bullet. Farhat remained unharmed. “She used to tell us that
she is feeling suffocated while being away from singing,” said the mother
of Ghazala. The mother informed TNS that Ghazala had sung four new songs for
her new album. “She told me that after her return from the beauty parlour,
she would sing two duets with Rahim Shah for her new album. Since the killing
of my beloved daughter, I would not allow any of my four daughters and as
many sons to sing” After her death, a large
number of her fans on Facebook shared the popular song of Ghazala “Ka ma
goray nu da storo mehfaloono ki ba yam…ya da sawi sawi zra pa daghoono ki
ba yam” (if anyone wants to look for me, I would be either in the company
of stars or in the broken hearts). Deputy Superintendent of
Police Imtiaz Shah says the police are conducting raids at various places to
arrest the ex-husband of Ghazala Javed, Jehangir, and his two alleged
accomplices. The death of Ghazala Javed
has instilled fear among a number of new female singers. “The authorities
should provide security to the female singers where it is needed so they can
better perform,” says Gul Panra, a new Pashto singer, who was all praise
for Ghazala Javed. javedaziz1@gmail.com caption Inspiration for Pashto
singers.
Yeh
Woh Malik Riaz’s
marathon live interview on Dunya TV, and the subsequent leak of its off-air
bits in which both hosts were shown to be chummy with a guest of questionable
reputation they were pretending to grill on-air, was the best thing to have
happened to Pakistani media. Well, almost. The media performs the
functions of both the mouth, and eyes-and-ears of its audiences. Here was a
chance for the mouth to shut up for once and for the eyes and ears to take in
the reality; to look at the image of news media as portrayed by the consumers
of media; to contemplate and deconstruct the recent developments, beginning
with the ‘whispering campaign’ about a grand plot against the judiciary
and culminating in exposing media as a party in the plot; and collectively
suggest, agree on, and implement corrective measures aimed at restoring
media’s credibility. Instead, the newspapers
started throwing the blame on TV, particularly its talk-show hosts, and the
television brayed in its defense like never before. Meher Bukhari attempted
the impossible by telling her audiences what they saw in the leaked clips was
something that happens in talk-shows on a daily basis and was no big deal
really; the real crime was stealing of private moments in the studio, and
that is what should be condemned. Her co-host Mubashir Luqman was, however,
suspended, apparently for throwing an on-air tantrum during what he believed
was a commercial break. Talat Hussain deciphered
the jargon for his audience and explained, frame by frame, how Dunya hosts
had trampled every principle and ethic in the book of journalism. He was of
the view though, that the unprofessional conduct of a ‘handful’ of media
personalities should not eclipse the honesty and professionalism of a vast
majority of media practitioners. Hamid Mir did several programmes in which he
demanded accountability of all senior journalists, while Nusrat Javeed
thundered his prediction that the government was going to use this incident
to tighten the noose around news media’s neck and the assorted leaders of
journalists’ bodies responded by rolling up their sleeves and vowing to
fight back. Here then is a media just
as confused about itself as it is about everything else it takes up. The
malaise is much deeper and widespread than the media’s ability or
inclination to see and report it. The operating word is not ‘professional
malpractice’ but plain old corruption. From a small town
correspondent-cum-news agent, to the sub-editor, editor and owner, corruption
is rampant in both print and electronic media, and in that respect Ms Bukhari
is more right than Mr Hussain, though it makes for a lousy excuse for her own
and others’ conduct. And who is going to hold
media to accountability when its own professional bodies have failed in their
role as watchdog and have consistently opposed reforms from outside? But
accountability was what everyone seemed to want for all of the six days
before the prime minister was disqualified by the Supreme Court, and the news
bulletins and talk-shows abruptly moved on to the next burning subject. The leaks failed to bring a
positive change, just like the Maya Khan episode, Punjab Assembly’s bill
criticising a section of media, and coverage of Karachi carnage of May 2007,
and Mumbai attacks failed before it, though all these incidents triggered
just as heated a debate on media ethics as seen in the recent days. Dunyaleaks was an incident
comparable to the filming of FC soldiers wantonly killing a young man in a
Karachi park. In popular perception killing of innocents at the hands of
state functionaries is a daily occurrence, but the video gave the macabre
practice a distinct face, a tag to remember by. If not for the two sets of
video clips, the conduct of the guilty parties would still be subject of
hearsay and unsubstantiated allegations. All that Dunyaleaks
achieved was bringing journalists closer to politicians. The latter have been
ridiculed and riled up for their failures and corrupt practices for as long
as the private TV channels have existed. It was now time for the politicians
to smile and welcome media personalities into the club of the disgraced, and
to suggest, tongue in cheek, why doesn’t TV run Indian songs to illustrate
the journalists’ wrongdoings? But the issue of media
ethics is already sold last week. It’s going to be business as usual, until
the next revelation whenever it comes. And then we’ll start demanding media
accountability all over again.
comment Imagine if it is
proved that Dr. Arslan Iftikhar in fact did receive illegal gratification for
the purposes of influencing cases. The reaction is not particularly hard to
fathom; he has been made a scapegoat, an innocent child trapped to vilify his
father and, most significantly, many people would refuse to accept the
findings because it would be contrary to what they believe. On the other hand if he is
found innocent then Allah be Praised, truth is bound to win and falsehood
perish and other mind-numbing clichés. Husain Haqqani faced a
similar situation albeit in a somewhat reverse manner. In the 16th century
Europe, there was a standard test of ascertaining if someone was a witch,
gruesomely named, “trial by ordeal”. The accused was thrown into water,
often a river, and the simple and simplistic criterion was that if she
managed to swim and survive she was a witch because the water has rejected
her and hence she should be executed. However, if she drowned then she was
innocent, although dead by the time of vindication. The obvious contradiction
was that an accusation was really a conviction. Husain Haqqani never really
had a chance. If he had been proven innocent, the Memo Commission would have
dropped the ball or the fact nothing was proved would have been a further
testimony to how wily, deceptive and dangerous a man, Ambassador Haqqani was.
We do not need to speculate on the alternative of if he was proven guilty,
because that he has been by the Memo Commission. Witchcraft is summoned to
mind for another reason — the language of the Commission report quoted in
the Supreme Court Order. The Commission report writes about Ambassador
Haqqani and I quote from the Order, “he also wanted to create a niche for
himself making himself forever indispensable to the Americans. Note the word
“forever”, so he was not only committing acts which were treasonous but
was also attempting to attain immortality; now who could have guessed that. I
know this is petty nitpicking. Fair enough, let us talk about the broader
strokes. The mandate of the
Commission as articulated by the Supreme Court was “to ascertain the
origin, authenticity and purpose of creating/drafting of Memo for delivering
it to Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen.” There
is no mention of a power conferred upon the Commission to give a
determination on the loyalty of anyone. The Memo Commission did not only come
to the conclusion that the unsigned document was authentic and authored by
Mr. Haqqani but went considerably farther in holding that his were “acts of
disloyalty” to Pakistan. Memo Commission proceedings
got off to a particularly bad start, with three Honorable Chief Justices
almost pleading to Mansoor Ijaz to cooperate, even going so far as saying
that the Commission can come to him. Not to mention judicial independence and
decorum, they were willing to go to any length to accommodate a foreign
national, who admittedly holds a very dim view of Pakistan and its
institutions. Also fascinating is the unironic manner in which a Commission
protecting “sovereignty” against foreign powers was willing to bend over
backwards to a man who has nothing but contempt for the Country and the
Commission. It is necessary to say
something about Mansoor Ijaz at this point. This deeply disturbed and
disturbing man needs sustained medical help and certainly was not worthy of
the deference accorded to him by the extraordinarily high powered Commission. The evidence relied upon in
reaching the findings was handed over by the Commission in sealed envelopes
to the Supreme Court (the sealed envelopes amongst other things contain top
secret and damning evidence such as Husain Haqqani’s published and widely
sold book, “Pakistan — Between Mosque and Military”) To many, anyone
who writes a book with such a title is a traitor to Pakistan, and no probe is
really necessary. None of the evidence, mostly statements and Blackberry
transcripts, has been made public. Commissions in Pakistan
have a very poor track record, the most recent example being the Saleem
Shahzad Commission report where it seemed that nobody has killed Saleem
Shahzad. The Abbottabad Commission is yet to make the groundbreaking,
earth-shattering disclosures. The urgency, vigour and enthusiasm displayed by
the Memo Commission should be disturbing. The allegation that the Commission
also acted as a complainant and a prosecutor will never be completely proved;
however the impression is not easily dislodged. One does not have to like
Husain Haqqani to say all this; it is not about him, it is about due process
and perception of neutrality both of which were severely compromised, if not
out rightly disregarded, in the Memo Commission proceedings. Allegations of treason have
a history of being driven by malice, and one would have thought that the
Commission would exercise more caution and not less in making a determination
as critical as this. Since the charge levelled is of “treason”, every
citizen has a right for the evidence and the Commission report to be made
public. The problem with allowing just one episode of the rules not being
applied fairly because you do not like the particular individual is that it
never stops there. Once the emboldening realisation that one can get away
with bending or, I daresay, breaking the law sinks in, the whole system of
neutral adjudication collapses, an example of which we have seen in an
elected Prime Minister being declared ineligible. Perhaps the only good thing
that emanates from Memo Commission and subsequently Prime Minister’s
disqualification is that now even the pretense of neutrality and objectivity
is very thinly veiled, if it is veiled at all. That may also be the most
depressing thing. The writer is a
Lahore-based lawyer saroop_ijaz@hotmail.com
Fata’s
polio problem Taliban, led by
Hafiz Gul Bahadur, in North Waziristan Agency have put the lives of 161,000
children at stake in the volatile tribal region by banning anti-polio
vaccination campaign as a protest against US drone attacks. If the Taliban continue to
pose ban on polio vaccination, the government would not be able to vaccinate
161,000 children during a three-day anti-polio campaign scheduled to commence
from July 18. Though Taliban suspect that
Pakistan has been helping the United States in drone attacks in Waziristan,
they say they would continue their peace accord with the government for
larger interest of the people of Waziristan. “We are worried for the
children in North Waziristan. Their lives would be at risk if they are not
vaccinated immediately. One polio case has been diagnosed in North Waziristan
that means the virus has reached there,” Dr Mohammad Rafiq, UNICEF’s
focal person for Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the Federally Administered Tribal
Areas (Fata), tells TNS. He says polio virus has been quite active in North
Waziristan, therefore, it would rapidly spread among other kids. Pakistan has recorded 22
polio cases this year — including 11 in Fata and nine in Khyber Agency. Some government officials
in Miranshah say four polio cases have been detected this year in NWA, but
only one was reported in the media. Pakistan is still among the
three unfortunate countries where polio virus still exists. The two other
ill-fated countries are the war-ravaged Afghanistan and Nigeria. The NWA Taliban, who had
signed a peace accord with the government in 2007 after bloody clashes
between Pakistani security forces and militants, have released a pamphlet in
Miranshah, the headquarters of North Waziristan, banning polio vaccination in
the tribal region. The Taliban leadership
believes that the United States and other Western countries have been funding
anti-polio vaccination in Pakistan. “The United States on one
hand is spending billions of rupees on anti-polio campaign, but on the other
it is carrying out drone attacks with the help of Pakistan in North
Waziristan. Innocent people, including women and children, are being killed
in these drone strikes. Almost every person in Waziristan is suffering from
psychological disorders due to drone strikes and round the clock flying of
spy planes over their homes and villages. This situation created by the US
drone strikes is more dangerous than the polio virus. Therefore,
administering polio drops is banned from today and those defying the ban
would be responsible for their losses,” the Taliban shura stated in the
leaflet. The Taliban shura also
fears that the US could send spies to North Waziristan in the guise of such
anti-polio campaigns. Taliban say the polio campaign could be a cover for the
CIA espionage — a reference to Dr Shakeel Afridi, who helped American
agencies trace Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad. “The Americans used the
sacred medical profession for their nefarious designs and ran a fake polio
campaign in Abbottabad through Dr Shakeel Afridi and helped the CIA track
down Osama bin Laden,” the Taliban stated in the leaflet. The government officials
say the situation is already alarming in the tribal areas in general and
North Waziristan in particular in terms of increase in polio cases. Of the seven tribal
regions, North Waziristan is perhaps the only place where local Ulema or
religious scholars have issued decrees (fatwas) in favour of administering
polio drops to children. The federal government has
conveyed its concern to the Governor KPK, Barrister Masood Kausar, over the
Taliban ban and urged him to initiate dialogue with the militant group and
resume the anti-polio campaign. Shahnaz Wazir Ali, the
Prime Minister’s Focal Person for Polio Eradication Programme in Islamabad,
has sent a letter to the governor urging him to use his influence and make
all possible efforts to resume the anti-polio campaign. “Pakistan has made great
progress toward polio eradication this year and setbacks like these will
limit our efforts to reach every child in Pakistan,” Shahnaz Wazir Ali
stated in the letter. Dr Mohammad Rafiq says they
are ready to provide logistical support and vaccines to the government if the
government succeeds in resuming anti-polio campaign in Waziristan. Agency Surgeon NWA, Dr
Mohammad Sadiq, says that they were able to immunise 144,000 children before
the ban. He says they have divided the tribal region into 74 parts. In 68
parts, he says, all the children were vaccinated with 1,100 refusals while
17000 children remained inaccessible in six Taliban-controlled areas. The government officials in
Miranshah, however, are afraid that the political administration may not
succeed in persuading the all-powerful Taliban to allow anti-polio
vaccination in case the drone strikes are not stopped. caption Risky drive.
Burning
issue More than ten
babies died recently in a fire in a new born intensive care unit (ICU) at a
Lahore public hospital. The fire was deemed an accident but it was an
accident waiting to happen. Rather than just calling this tragedy a onetime
accident, it is imperative to look at the reasons behind it and to seek out
ways to prevent such tragedies in future. During my years in the US,
I had a chance to make many improvements in different homes that I owned but,
before I could use those premises, a ‘fire inspector’ had to give a final
clearance before occupation. In stark contrast, I have never seen a single
fire inspector ever inspecting a single home before occupation in Pakistan.
More importantly, I renovated an entire ward in Mayo Hospital a few years ago
and made many major changes yet there was no inspection by any official to
determine whether the premises were properly protected from a fire and if an
adequate evacuation plan for patients was in place. Let me summarise why so
many of our hospitals and especially intensive care units are fire hazards.
Most of our public hospitals were built many decades ago when there was no
air conditioning and the concept of ICUs had not become established.
Electrical wiring was put in originally just for lights and fans. Over the
last two decades, air conditioning became more common. This required a major
change of the existing configuration of many of the old fashioned hospital
wards. Originally most of them had high ceilings and many doors and windows
for cross ventilation but then the ceilings were lowered using
‘Styrofoam’ for the false ceilings. Often old patient files and bed
linens were stored above these false ceiling creating a reservoir of
flammable material. The second change was that most of the doors and windows
were permanently blocked to decrease traffic and air movement and improve the
effect of air conditioning. This had the coincidental result of closing down
fire escape routes. When ICUs were established
they brought added problems to make them into fire hazards. First was
technology. In a modern ICU, we now have breathing machines (respirators),
heart monitors, and lifesaving equipment like incubators in a new born ICU
and of course Oxygen supply lines for the respirators. So if we take the
problems of Styrofoam false ceilings, air conditioners, respirators with
Oxygen and to it add the problem of overloaded electrical supply lines that
were originally meant just for a few lights and ceiling fans we have a
combustible mixture. And then throw in regular loadshedding with the
electrical supply changing from the outside supply to hospital generators and
back again we now have added frequent surges in the electrical supply. In short, a spark can set
off a fire that is then fuelled by the ‘Oxygen rich’ environment and
feeds on bed linen, Styrofoam ceilings and almost anything else that is
flammable. Now about fire prevention
in these ICU environments, first there are no safeguards when new electrical
equipment is installed. No fire inspection is done when any of the wards are
reconfigured and after that there is no availability of fire fighting
equipment in any ward. During the seven years I
ran an advanced cardiac surgery ICU in Mayo Hospital, we had no fire
extinguishers available in the ICU. Of course if I had obtained fire
extinguishers from private donations as I did much of everything else they
would probably have been stolen within a week. And if we had chained them
down to prevent theft; they would have become useless during an emergency.
However, after renovation of my ICU, I insisted on having an outside door
available as a fire exit. But every time I made evening rounds the door would
be locked from the inside by the ‘ward boys’ since they controlled access
to the unit and took money for allowing patient’s families to enter. In
case of fire these ‘keepers of the keys’ would obviously be the first to
leave the scene with the keys. As far as air conditioners
are concerned, Mayo Hospital had only two technicians available to check them
for the entire hospital and they could at best service two or three in a day.
Mayo Hospital, by a conservative estimate, has close to a thousand air
conditioners so we can well imagine how effective the official service for
air conditioners is. And yes, every time we turned on the air conditioners in
the ICU, operating theatres and the surrounding offices at the same time, the
fuses would trip. The way out? Not better electrical supply but bigger fuses
that would not trip so easily. Personally, I am sure that things are not
different in any of our major public hospitals. The tragedy in the Lahore
hospital is indeed a call to action. Unfortunately, what will most likely
happen is that a minor functionary will be blamed and fired and no systemic
changes will take place to prevent future tragedies of this magnitude. What
is needed are real safeguards to prevent or at least decrease the possibility
of such accidents and mitigate their consequences. No, we do not need to
rebuild every ICU but we do need to institute important changes and these
should also include most general wards and even private rooms in most
hospitals. First and foremost we need
to have an actual fire inspection and prevention department in every hospital
that is manned by people that are actually trained in this function. If need
be, we can ask international hospitals to train our personnel for this
purpose. This department must certify all new construction and inspect all
building additions and alterations for fire safety and also carry out regular
fire safety checks and fire drills in every department. Such a department and
its personnel should be available throughout the day to respond to any fire
and take charge of the situation. Second, considering the new
technology being acquired by many hospitals, a truly functional department of
bio-mechanical engineering as well as for ‘heating, ventilation and
air-conditioning’ (HVAC) should be established in every major hospital.
These departments should not only be responsible for maintenance of all the
expensive and high tech equipment within the hospitals but should also
perform a complete maintenance check of all air conditioners prior to the
summer season. Such maintenance must also include an upgrade of existing
electric supply to keep pace with the increasing use of electricity dependent
technology. Third, an evacuation plan
for every ward and a fire drill that is practiced often enough that all
personnel are aware of what needs to be done during an emergency should be in
place. For an ICU where patients are often hooked up to life saving devices,
special evacuation procedures are needed. This includes exits large enough to
allow patient beds along with attached monitors and life support systems to
be moved together including portable Oxygen supply cylinders. And yes,
functioning fire extinguishers should be available at all ‘strategic’
locations within all wards and ICUs as well as all laboratories. mhmbbs@aol.com caption Soon after the fire. —
Photo by Rahat Dar |
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