Medical bodies in Pakistan have condemned the registration of FIR against doctors, saying harassment, violence and criminal cases are pushing staff away from critical care. An FIR, or first information report, is the police record that starts a criminal case. The Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) said the situation had reached an alarming stage, and it linked the concern to several recent incidents, including FIRs against 27 doctors at Liaquat University Hospital in Hyderabad.
What the medical fraternity is saying
Medical bodies have described the current climate at health facilities as hostile. They argue that harassment, violence and the filing of cases will make doctors reluctant to take on critical patients. Dr Abdul Ghafoor Shoro of the PMA said senior specialists and young medical officers were being driven to give up clinical work or leave the country.
Dr Shoro said physicians, surgeons and trainees handling high-risk cases were routinely facing murder charges under Sections 302 and 322 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), the country's main criminal code, along with large civil damage suits. He said these cases were being brought over clinical outcomes that doctors could not control. He also said recent judicial orders had led to non-bailable arrest warrants, which do not allow bail as of right, against whole hospital units, from senior professors to house officers.
The cases behind the statement
The statement pointed to three developments: an alleged assault on a female doctor in Lahore, FIRs against 27 doctors of Liaquat University Hospital in Hyderabad, and a court case against medics at Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital in Karachi. Dr Shoro said clinical complaints should go to legally mandated healthcare commissions or peer-review medical boards, not straight into criminal courts. He said bypassing these bodies exposed doctors to police raids and arbitrary detention.
Dr Shoro warned that fear of prosecution pushes doctors into what he called ‘defensive medicine’, where they hesitate over high-risk procedures or refuse critically ill patients. In his view, the patient is the ultimate victim, facing delayed care, refused admission and weaker emergency services. He added that the state's hostility toward the profession harmed the public as well.
Demands and what happens next
The PMA has asked the prime minister, the chief justice and all provincial governments to act without delay. Its main demand is an immediate bar on registering Section 302 or 322 PPC charges, or issuing arrest warrants, against medical staff without a prior technical evaluation and clearance from healthcare commissions or independent medical boards. It also wants healthcare protection laws fully enforced in every province, to shield hospitals from mob violence, political intimidation and illegal police action.
The association further called for non-technical bureaucrats to be removed from health leadership, an end to what it called aggressive raids by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), the federal tax agency, and a review of tax on medical services. If the proposals were adopted, they would require technical review before any FIR against doctors on murder charges. No official response to these demands has been reported so far.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Medical bodies ne Hyderabad mein 27 doctors par FIRs aur Karachi ki ek court case par ehtejaj kiya hai. Unka kehna hai ke murder ke charges aur arrest warrants ke dar se doctors mushkil kesoon mein jhijhak sakte hain, jis ka nuqsan marizon ko hoga. PMA ne hukumat aur chief justice se kaha hai ke aise charges se pehle technical evaluation zaroori ho. Aam shehri ke liye iska matlab hai ke emergency mein ilaaj mein dair ya rukawat ka khatra barh sakta hai.
