An 80-year-old woman, Shameema Begum, died on Sunday, two weeks after an ex-security guard allegedly posed as a doctor and performed surgery on her at a hospital in Pakistan, The Guardian reports.
Police say that Muhammad Waheed Butt attempted to treat Begum’s back wound at Lahore’s Mayo hospital.
“We can’t keep up with what every doctor and what everyone is doing at all times. It’s a large hospital,” said an administrative official for the hospital who wished to remain unnamed.
That official added that it’s not clear what type of surgery was performed. A qualified technician was present while the surgery was done.
The Guardian adds that Pakistan’s public hospitals can frequently be “inefficient and chaotic,” and that patients are required to pay towards treatment.
Begum’s family paid Butt for the operation and a pair of future home follow-up visits. The elderly patient’s bleeding and pain got worse. As a result her family returned to her to the hospital, and it’s at that point they learned what happened.
An autopsy that will determine whether the botched surgery led to Begum’s death is yet to be performed.
A spokesperson for the Lahore police said the guard is in custody, and that he had posed as a doctor and given home visits to other patients before.
Staff for the hospital say he was fired two years ago after he tried to extort money from patients.
On that note, a man was arrested last month after posing as a doctor in the surgical ward of the Lahore general hospital, where he attempted to extort money from patients.
