Islamabad: Shifa International Hospital told a parliamentary panel on Tuesday that brain-dead patients are not declared clinically dead under international medical protocols, and hospitals cannot remove ventilator support unless families provide written consent—even if the prognosis is irreversible.
Responding to allegations made by MNA Zahra Wadood Fatimi during a meeting of the National Assembly’s Sub-Committee on National Health, Shifa’s Chief Operating Officer Taimoor Shah emphasized that the hospital acted in accordance with global medical ethics and did not commit any wrongdoing in a 2011 case involving a brain-dead patient.
“Brain death is not the same as declared death,” Shah told the committee. “Across the world, families are given time to process such cases, and ventilator support continues until they sign a formal consent to withdraw it. That protocol was followed in this case as well.”
The case in question was raised emotionally by MNA Zahra Wadood Fatimi, who claimed that a private hospital in Islamabad had kept a brain-dead relative on a ventilator for several days in 2011 and charged Rs100,000 per day before finally releasing the body after dues were cleared. Although she did not name the hospital, the statement was widely interpreted as referring to Shifa International.
Fatimi described the incident as an unethical act and said she never returned to the hospital after that day. “My loved one was brain-dead, but the hospital kept him on machines and kept charging us. I’ve brought this to Parliament so that such practices are stopped in the future,” she said.
Shifa’s COO, however, stated that the hospital had no record of any formal complaint from the family in the past 14 years and that ventilator support was maintained only because the family had not signed any consent for its removal.
“We were simply following medical ethics. Without a family’s written permission, no hospital in the world can take a patient off life support. Media reports presented this as a body being held for ransom, which is completely misleading,” he asserted.
He further clarified that brain-dead patients are often kept on life support temporarily to give families time to accept the reality and make informed decisions.
“This was not a unique or unethical case—it happens globally in ICUs every day,” Shah said.
The controversy fueled broader discussions in the committee around conflict of interest in healthcare regulation, particularly the role of private hospital owners in the Islamabad Healthcare Regulatory Authority (IHRA). Lawmakers questioned whether individuals linked to private medical institutions should sit on the IHRA board, which oversees licensing and enforcement in the healthcare sector.
The Ministry of Law informed the committee that there is no legal restriction on private hospital owners or executives becoming board members or even chairpersons of IHRA. However, they must recuse themselves from proceedings involving their own hospitals or associated cases. “They cannot be part of decision-making in matters that involve a direct conflict of interest,” the law ministry’s representative clarified.
Despite this legal interpretation, committee members including Convenor Dr. Amjad Ali Khan expressed strong reservations. “Our view is clear—private hospital owners should not be on the IHRA board in any capacity. It undermines the integrity of regulation,” he said, adding that the sub-committee would formally recommend changes to relevant laws and rules.
The committee also criticized IHRA’s leadership for non-responsiveness, noting that the CEO skipped the session and sent a junior representative without authority to answer key questions. Lawmakers expressed frustration over the authority’s delayed licensing of hospitals in Islamabad. Dr. Shazia Soomro pointed out that 45 facilities are still awaiting registration. IHRA’s representative sought one more month to complete the process.
The session concluded with calls for legal reform to eliminate institutional conflicts of interest and ensure that regulatory bodies like IHRA operate independently, transparently, and in the public interest.
Ends