An incident, with dramatic implications, of intolerance on a confessional basis at the Civil Hospital of Sahiwal, in Punjab, once again highlights the discrimination suffered by minorities in Pakistan.
Doctors at the hospital, who should be entrusted with the task of saving lives, have been guilty of gross negligence at the clinical level, as well as hatred towards other fellow citizens simply because of the faith they practise.
The person denouncing the incident is Yousaf Masih Gill, whose seriously ill father, fighting for his life, was subjected to ‘unprofessional and discriminatory’ treatment by the medical staff.
According to Yousaf Masih’s account of events on 1 October, a Muslim doctor at the hospital allegedly made a chilling statement to the family seeking help: ‘If I had known earlier that you are a Christian, I would not have touched your father’.