The Supreme Court Tuesday asked advocate general of Sindh and two senior lawyers to suggest the composition of the committee which can suggest reforms in police department and private hospitals.
Beenish Umer, mother of a deceased girl Amal, stated that financial compensation is not their priority and they want reforms in police and private hospitals to provide healthcare in case of emergency so that in future people do not lose their loved ones due to the negligence of doctors.
Hearing a suo motu case, Chief Justice Saqib Nisar regretted that the child had lost her life due to alleged negligence first on the part of Karachi police, and then the administration of National Medical Centre (NMC). The court directed the administrator NMC that the owner of the hospital should be present on the next hearing.
"Can Amal be brought back?" the CJP lamented, adding that he could not assign the inquiry of the incident to police because he is unhappy with the security force.
The Chief Justice asked AG Sindh Salman Talibuddin, senior advocate Faisal Siddiqui and Sardar Latif Khosa to suggest the names for members of the committee that can give recommendations for reforms in the police and private hospitals.
Beenish Umer, earlier, briefed the court about the ordeal they went through after taking their injured daughter to the NMC on the night of August 13. She said when she called for an ambulance; she was asked whether they had booking for a bed at Jinnah Hospital.
Also the NMC staff did not allow the parents to take with them the ambu bag that was attached to Amal, she said, adding that her daughter died before she could be shifted to another hospital.
She said that an inquiry revealed two days later that the bullet that hit Amal had been fired by a policeman, and that it had come from a machine gun. "Are we living in Kashmir, Afghanistan or Syria?" she wondered.
The CJP then asked the counsel for the child's parents what can be done to prevent similar incidents in future. He said it needs to be investigated how a policeman opened fire that led to Amal's death.
Faisal Siddiqui informed the court that there is law for the government hospitals to provide emergency treatment to critical patients but there is no one for private medical institutions. He said the NMC is a major hospital in Karachi and it is strange that it does not have ambulances.
The capital city police officer (CCPO) Karachi said Amal's parents had informed him that their daughter was hit by a bullet fired by a policeman when he visited their residence to condole.
"This is police negligence," remarked Justice Ijazul Ahsan, another member of the bench.
The CCPO claimed that one of the suspected robbers was shot dead during the exchange of fire. At this, Amal's father interjected and said there are seven bullet marks on his car. "[Police] should not have heavy weaponry to control street crimes," observed CJP Nisar.
"You handed over machine guns to policemen without training them first," Justice Ahsan said addressing the CCPO. The police officer responded by saying, "Our policemen are martyred [during such incidents]". The CJP, however, reminded him that they need to be trained adequately first. Later, the case was adjourned for two days.
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