Doctors in 'Tarraawi'

Ehtizaz Ehsin and the Doctor in ‘Taraawi’

Ehtizaz Ehsin who was badly manhandled by the police yesterday (29.9.07) at the Constitutional Avenue during the protest rally of the lawyers was complaining in an interview on the TV about the treatment meted out to him by the doctors of the public hospital where he had gone for emergency treatment of the injuries inflicted upon him by the police. He said that he had to wait for an hour for any attendance by the doctor when he was informed that all doctors were busy with their ‘Taraawi’ prayers and would see him only after they are free from their prayers.

This recalled to me my own horrible experience with the doctors in ‘Taraawi. Years ago I was admitted in Mayo Hospital for an operation during Ramzan. After the operation when I regained my conscious I had a bout of vomiting which caused opening of some stitches resulting in profuse bleeding. My family ran for search of medical help but none was available as all the staff of the hospital had gone to offer ‘Taraawi’ prayers. I had never seen death so near in my life. Everything became so unreal that I began to wonder whether I was among the dead or alive. Any how, after a long and hectic search a medical attendant came to hand when I had almost become unconscious due to extreme loss of blood. I could however hear my wife bursting in rage upon the attendant and heard her shouting when she saw a doctor also: “Why” she said, “they employ ‘namazies’ in hospitals who cannot attend even a dying patient for a mere ritual like ‘taraawi’ and suggested that they should better employ only Christians and Sikhs in hospitals who do not have to attend to the rituals which may prevent them from attending to their duty even when the life of a human being hangs in balance.”

A question arises: Is it not the time to ponder seriously whether we should employ those in our public health services in whose code of life there is no place for a code of ethics essential for the kind of job, but only a schedule of rituals believed to have been prescribed for a slave-owning society of centuries ago when there were no hospitals and no patients at their mercy?