An ex-security guard at a Pakistani hospital posed as a doctor and performed surgery on a woman, who later died.
Shameema Begum, aged 80, died on Sunday, two weeks after Muhammad Waheed Butt attempted to treat her back wound at a public hospital in the eastern city of Lahore, AFP reported.
“We can’t keep up with what every doctor and what everyone is doing at all times. It’s a large hospital,” explained an administrative official from Lahore’s Mayo Hospital, who did not want to be named.
He told the France-based news agency that it was unclear what type of surgery the imposter had performed in the operating theatre, where a qualified technician was also present.
Begum’s family paid Butt for the operation, and two further home visits to dress her wound.
But when the bleeding and pain worsened, her family returned her to the hospital, where they discovered what had happened.
Her body is being kept for an autopsy to ascertain whether her death was a result of complications from the botched surgery.
“Butt had posed as a doctor and made home visits to other patients in the past also.”
Mayo Hospital staff said Butt was fired two years ago for trying to extort money from patients.
Earlier in May a man was arrested for posing as a doctor at Lahore General Hospital and extorting money from patients in the surgical ward.
