Mob vandalises JMPC ward after coronavirus patient’s death

A mob of angry men barged into the isolation ward at Karachi’s Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) and vandalised it on late Thursday evening, after the death of a coronavirus patient who was being treated at the JMPC.

According to the officials, the incident of violence occurred after the hospital’s administration refused to hand over the patient’s body to the family.

JPMC Executive Director Dr. Seemin Jamali told the news source that at least eight to nine people were arrested after police and Rangers were called to the facility,

According to the JPMC director, a 60-year-old man was brought to the hospital from the Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) Ojha campus in critical condition.

She also told that patient’s attendants were not allowed to go upstairs where the patient was admitted.

However, after he passed away, a huge crowd gathered outside the facility before bursting inside and ransacking the ward, she added.

“But the mob broke the doors, glass windows, tables, computers, ceiling fans, everything they could lay their hands on,” Dr. Jamali said.

Videos from the spot are being circulated on the social media showing the ward with scattered pieces of glass, furniture, and fans strewn on the floor after the attack. 

“When a Covid-19 patient dies, the hospital administration calls the district health officer, who arranges the ghusl (bathing of a body) and burial with Edhi staff. They bury the body in a far-off graveyard,” Dr. Jamali said.

“I would suggest that we rethink this policy of not allowing the family to see the deceased,” she said. “They are someone’s loved one. Give the family proper hazmat suits and let them wash the body and bury them.”