Prisoners banned from public hospitals

Samaan Lateef

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, February 9

Three days after a Pakistani prisoner escaped from a Srinagar hospital, the J&K Police have banned the entry of all prisoners in public hospitals and have directed all jail authorities in the state to send the sick inmates for treatment to police hospitals only.

“From now on, all inmates should be sent to police hospitals only,” an official quoted a communication from SP Vaid, Director General of Police, to all jail authorities.

The official said the decision had come after militants on Tuesday killed two police personnel and freed Naveed Jatt, a wanted Lashkar-e-Toiba militant of Pakistan, who was taken from the Srinagar Central Jail to SMHS Hospital, Srinagar, for a check-up.

Doctors at Police Hospital, Srinagar, said they had been receiving jail inmates regularly, but for super specialty treatment, some inmates were sent to tertiary care hospitals of Srinagar. “We have almost all specialties available here. However, we are free to seek help from super specialty experts of public hospitals from now on,” said a doctor at the Police Hospital. He said they had received several prisoners from various jails of Kashmir after the Tuesday attack. Dr Samia Rashid, principal, Government Medical College (GMC), Srinagar, had also recommended the state government that for security reasons, detainees should be taken to police hospitals.

“If consultation of specialists of the GMC and associated hospitals, including SMHS, is required, a team of expert doctors can be deputed accordingly to Police Hospital,” Dr Rashid wrote to the state government on February 7. The police have suspended Hilal Rather, Superintendent of the Srinagar Central Jail, and arrested four persons for allegedly helping Jatt escape. The government has also transferred almost all health officials, including two doctors and three pharmacists, from the jail.