Several suspects, including a doctor, were picked up in three intelligence-driven raids on as many private health facilities in the city, it emerged on Sunday.Karachi police chief Mushtaq Ahmed Mahar confirmed only one raid at a health facility in Bahadurabad. However, sources told Dawn that a total of three facilities were raided and besides a doctor, some staff members and some under-treatment suspects, who had been wounded in the country’s tribal areas, were picked up. “We received information that some wounded militants are being treated at some Karachi hospitals,” said a senior police official. “Police and intelligence officials first raided Zubaida Medical Centre in Bahadurabad and detained some staff members and a few wounded suspects.” In this particular case, police claimed to be acting on a tip from intelligence agencies that some of the staff from the hospital in question was extending treatment to militant fighters without alerting the authorities that they were required to do.
In response, police say that they are preparing a set of recommendations on administering medical treatment to patients whose injuries suggest they may be linked to militant activity.This is very sensitive ground, and the agencies preparing these recommendations must take due care to ensure that they do not put doctors and other medical practitioners in a position where they have to violate one of the central pillars and the ethical foundations of the medical profession: their obligation to extend treatment to anyone who seeks it.Apprehending suspected militants when they try to flee or seek treatment for injuries is a necessary part of the ongoing fight against terrorism, but doctors must not be forced into a position where they have to judge the patient first before extending medical help. Such a dilemma also creates a perverse incentive for doctors to look for reasons to deny treatment on suspicion that the patient may be linked to militant activity.The fight against terrorism and extremism must continue, and in times to come it will undoubtedly take us deeper into uncharted terrain.
pk.shafaqna.com
