Woman, 80 dies after security guard poses as doctor and performs surgery on her in Pakistan hospital

Hospital patient, 80, dies after security guard poses as a doctor and performs surgery on her in Pakistan

  • Shameema Begum died on Sunday two weeks after Muhammad Waheed Butt attempted to treat her back wound at a public hospital in eastern city of Lahore 
  • An official said: ‘We can’t keep up with every doctor …  It’s a large hospital’
  • Butt had taken payment from the victim’s family before carrying out the surgery 

An 80-year-old hospital patient has died after a security guard posed as a doctor and performed surgery on her in Pakistan. 

Shameema Begum died on Sunday two weeks after Muhammad Waheed Butt attempted to treat her back wound at Lahore’s Mayo Hospital.

Butt, who has been charged and is in police custody, took payment from her family before performing the surgery in an operating theatre, where a qualified technician was also present. 

‘We can’t keep up with what every doctor and what everyone is doing at all times. It’s a large hospital,’ explained a hospital official, who did not want to be named.  

Lahore's Mayo Hospital, a public hospital in eastern Pakistan. Pakistan's public hospitals, where people are required to pay some money towards treatment, can often be inefficient and chaotic.

Lahore’s Mayo Hospital, a public hospital in eastern Pakistan. Pakistan’s public hospitals, where people are required to pay some money towards treatment, can often be inefficient and chaotic.

Police said the security guard has also been accused of posing as a doctor on other occasions, even making home visits to patients.

The hospital claimed the security guard was fired two years ago for trying to extort money from patients.  

Pakistan’s public hospitals, where people are required to pay some money towards treatment, can often be inefficient and chaotic.

Begum’s family paid Butt for the operation, and two further home visits to dress her wound.

But when the bleeding and pain worsened, her family returned her to the hospital, where they discovered what had happened.

Her body is being kept for an autopsy to ascertain whether her death was a result of complications from the botched surgery. 

‘The guard has been charged and is in police custody,’ Lahore police spokesman Ali Safdar told AFP.

‘Butt had posed as a doctor and made home visits to other patients in the past also.’

Earlier in May a man was arrested for posing as a doctor at Lahore General Hospital and extorting money from patients in the surgical ward.

In 2016 it was revealed a woman posing to be a neurosurgeon conducted operations for eight months alongside qualified doctors at Lahore’s Services Hospital, the second-largest health facility in Pakistan. 

source: dailymail.co.uk