KARACHI: In a shocking revelation it has been learnt that only five female medico-legal officers (MLOs) are working in government-run hospitals across in Karachi, a city with an approximate population of 7.6 million women.
The revelation emerged after the autopsy of four-year-old Harmain was delayed for 10 hours. The minor was shot dead after being hit by in head during a cross-fire between robbers and security guards in the city’s Shah Latif Town.
The family had to wait for over 10 hours for her post-mortem at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) after a delay from the female MLO.
Executive director JPMC’s take:
Commenting over a delayed post-mortem of the minor girl, Executive Director of JPMC Shahid Rasool said that it was an unfortunate incident and the MLO could have been called from any hospital, there was no need for delay, he added.
No female MLO at JPMC in Night shift:
MLO Samia Syed clarifying her position said that they are performing a post-mortem on the body and a report would only be released by evening.
She revealed that Karachi only has five female MLOs and even Jinnah hospital does not have a female MLO for the night shift. “I and another female medical officer perform eight-hour duties,” she said and added that they had already submitted a proposal to hire a medico-legal officer for the night shift.
Only one female MLO is avialble for per 1.5mn women:
Karachi which approximately has a population of more than 7.6 million women, just five working female MLOs means only one female MLO is available per 1.5 million women – a significant medical and legal gap for a city prone to violence, street crime and violence against women.
There are a total of nine sanctioned posts of female MLOs in Karachi. Five women are working in these positions at three major hospitals – Civil Hospital, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre and Abbasi Shaheed Hospital. Among the four remaining positions, three are lying vacant while one officer has been declared an absconder.
1996’s ruling:
In a 1996 ruling, the Supreme Court had imposed a ban on male MLOs conducting post-mortems of women to preserve the privacy and dignity of women. Only women MLOs can perform an autopsy on women. Because of the apex court’s restrictions, male MLOs cannot offer any help in the hospital even if there is a rush of medico-legal cases involving women.
To deal with the situation, in March, the Sindh Health Department assigned 46 female medical officers to work as MLOs in various government hospitals, but these were not permanent postings.
Among these, only 16 female doctors have received training from the Police Surgeon’s Office and are working. Yet, the issue of long wait times for women victims of accidents and violence in seeing an MLO has not been resolved.
