The Kashmir Press Club on Saturday urged the administration of the Union Territory to make public the report of investigation into a senior journalist’s death last month.
Mudasir Ali, 37, died of a cardiac arrest at a hospital in Budgam district after a doctor allegedly failed to give him basic life support, according to The Wire. Ali worked with Greater Kashmir and also freelanced for several international publications.
The journalist’s family said that the Directorate of Health Services had not shared the inquiry report with them, even though the investigation into the alleged lapses by the staff at the Charar-e-Sharief sub-district hospital began a month ago.
The press club demanded that the hospital take responsibility for the journalist’s death. “The KPC [Kashmir Press Club] management committee members while discussing it [the incident] in a meeting said that if there is medical negligence as suggested by the deceased journalist’s family, the health department needs to fix responsibility and take corrective measures so as to ensure a better response and handling of emergencies in hospitals and health centers across Kashmir in future,” it said.
The Kashmir Press Club said that the delay in the investigation was giving rise to suspicions that the authorities were “upto something else”. “The club urges the health authorities to immediately complete the inquiry and share it’s contents with the anguished family besides fixing the responsibility with regard to the alleged medical negligence,” the press club added.
A three-member committee had been formed on November 26 to investigate Ali’s death, according to The Wire. The panel’s preliminary report on December 2 stated that there had been lapses at “multiple levels” during his treatment.
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