President Zardari to visit his father in Ziauddin Hospital

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President Asif Ali Zardari’s visit to the Ziauddin Hospital, Karachi, on Thursday amidst intense security, to inquire after the health of his father Hakim Ali Zardari played havoc with the routines of patients and their attendants at this busy city hospital. Security personnel closed the hospital, only allowing ministers and senior government officials access, with patents and attendants being turned away. Hakim Zardari was admitted to the hospital at 3am on February 4.

Perhaps this security overkill was provoked by the fact that shortly after Hakim Ali Zardari was admitted to the hospital, the staff received a threatening phone call that a bomb had been planted to “target the president.” After this, the hospital was searched thoroughly to secure it for the president’s impending visit.

There was a second such phone call on February 5. The capital city police officer was on alert and the number was reportedly traced and forwarded to the crime investigation department, officials said.

The President visited his father on Thursday afternoon, upon which the entire hospital was closed to the general public. There was a sea of policemen around the hospital, while one side of the road leading from Bilawal Chowrangi to Ziaduddin hospital was closed to traffic.

The security staff at the gates of the hospital told incoming patients and their families, some of them emergency cases, that they “should go to another hospital.” However, the closest other hospital in the area is South City, which does not have an emergency ward, complained patients and their families.

Hospital sources, who wished to not be named, told The News that Hakim Ali Zardari, who will reportedly have an angiography, was admitted to the second floor. However, two rooms in the maternity section (rooms 3019 and 3020) on the third floor of the hospital were also put on hold for him two days in advance, so that he would not have to “wait” after the medical procedure.

The News was told that Hakim Ali Zardari would be taken to the maternity ward because the hospital’s only VIP room was located there. They, however, were not able to explain why two rooms had been taken up — it was possibly because he was expected to have high-profile visitors, including the president, during his stay there — and the availability of two maternity rooms would make their visit there more comfortable.

Some families in the maternity section complained that there were no rooms available there already, and since the two rooms were “booked in advance” many expectant mothers, for whom the maternity section is meant for, had to be admitted to other places.

Meanwhile, there were other desperate visitors waiting outside for over an hour, begging security staff to be let in. One woman said that her mother had been admitted into the intensive care unit (ICU) and she had just received the phone call about it. She hysterically asked the security men to be let in, only to be turned away. One frustrated family waiting outside had come to collect the body of a deceased relative, but were asked to wait till the president left.

A majority of the people assembled outside the hospital questioned the logic of closing an entire hospital because of the visit by a high-profile personality. “How can they close a hospital? It’s bad enough that they close roads causing massive traffic jams for VVIP movement... but now this. This is ridiculous,” said a self-employed businessman who wished not to be named for fear of repercussions.

One couple had come to visit a parent who had been admitted to the ICU at the hospital. They had to catch a flight and therefore wished to spend time with the parent before departing. However, while they managed to get into the hospital, it was not before having to wait outside for an extended period of time — time which could have been spent with their father in the hospital.

As the frustrated general public waited outside, high-profile visitors of the president’s father waltzed through at will. In one case, a Sindh Minister, Manzoor Wassan walked straight through the crowd of people gathered at the gate and was let in by the security along with his entourage. Other ministers there included Agha Siraj Durrani and Shazia Marri. There were also many high-ranking police officers there, including the Capital City Police Officer, Waseem Ahmed, the Clifton TPO and other officials including from the Anti-Terror department in attendance.

Some few people were let in after at least an hour of arguing and pleading and even dropping names and making phone calls.

Those who managed to get inside told The News that, the lobby was taken up by a number of police officials as well as the president’s security team dressed in back pin-striped suits and equipped with ear pieces. Those lucky few allowed to be let through by the intense security at the gate were stopped by these suited men and questioned thoroughly. When they were asked to identify themselves, they simply said: “We are hospital security.”

Patients and visitors were extremely harassed and, in some cases, not allowed to use the hospital’s elevator while the president was there. One patient who arrived at the hospital in a wheelchair had to argue with the security personnel to be allowed to use the elevator. While waiting for the elevator, they were told aggressively by the security men to move to the side in case a minister or VVIP was coming down using the elevator.

The security at the gate refused to say on whose orders the hospital’s gates had been closed. When The News called up CCPO Waseem Ahmed to get the police’s version, he said that he could not make a statement because he “was at a function.”