LAHORE: The District Consumer Court on Wednesday took up a complaint by another woman against a private veterinary clinic already facing a case for killing a pet cat due to alleged negligence.
Presiding Judge Adnan Mushtaq heard initial arguments on Fareeha Farooq’s complaint against Dr. Abid Hussain of Abid Pet Clinic located in Phase 5 of the Defense Housing Authority and adjourned the hearing until September 15.
The plaintiff alleged that she took her healthy two-year-old cat named Simba to the (defendant) vet’s clinic for minor tooth extraction surgery in June. She said that the defendant after charging his fees performed the operation. However, she claimed, the cat died two days after the operation as a result of sudden vomiting. She maintained that gross medical negligence due to high doses of antibiotics and steroids led to the death of her healthy cat.
She claimed that her cat was completely healthy and had no history of health problems before he was treated by the defendant for dental surgery.
The plaintiff asked the court to recover damages of Rs 900,000 from the defendant. The woman also filed a complaint against the vet with the Pakistan Veterinary Medical Council (PVMC) for being medically negligent while treating her cat.
Dr. Abid Hussain, in his response filed before the Board, denied the Complainant’s accusations. He said the complainant was fully satisfied when she visited the clinic with the cat a day after the operation. The next day, the vet saw the plaintiff’s text messages about the death of her cat.
The accused said he asked the woman to have the cat autopsied to determine the cause of death, but she refused. He said the complaint against his clinic was malicious and based on bad faith intent.
A similar complaint against the Gulberg branch of the same veterinary clinic is pending in consumer court. Fatima Binte Adeeb is claiming Rs 5 million damages while Dr Hussain denies the charge of medical negligence. The woman alleges that her five-and-a-half-year-old cat called Muezza died of liver failure following the excessive administration of antibiotic injections advised by the defendant veterinarian.
Posted in Dawn, August 19, 2022