Daily Times

KARACHI: Karachi has only five female medico-legal officers, according to a surprising disclosure made when a girl child’s post-mortem was delayed for over 10 hours.

Harmain, a three-year-old child, was killed by a gunshot during a shootout between security officers and muggers at a shopping mall in Karachi.

The family had to wait for over 10 hours for her post-mortem at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) after a delay from the female MLO.

While commenting over a delayed post-mortem, the executive director of JPMC Shahid Rasool said that it was an unfortunate incident and the MLO could have been called from any hospital.

Later clarifying her position, the female MLO Samia Syed said that they are performing a post-mortem on the body and a report would only be released by evening.

She disclosed that Karachi has only five female MLOs, with Jinnah Hospital without a female MLO for the night shift. “I and another female medical officer work eight-hour shifts,” she explained, adding that they had already submitted a request for a medico-legal officer to work the night shift.

She also denied claims that the child’s body had been moved to the family’s house, saying that they had decided to place it in the morgue after consulting with the family.