ISLAMABAD: Academy Award-winning director Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy unleashed a social media firestorm this week when she called out a doctor in Pakistan for alleged inappropriate conduct after he found her sister on Facebook and sent her a friend request following her visit to the Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) in Karachi.
In a series of three tweets, the director fired at the unnamed doctor.
Chinoy and her family allegedly reported the doctor directly to AKUH but the hospital has yet to make a statement on the claims. Meanwhile, various media outlets have reported that the doctor has been suspended while an internal investigation takes place.
There are zero boundaries in #pakistan! Last night my sister went to AKU emergency & the doctor who tended to her tried 2 add her on FB 1/2
— Sharmeen Obaid (@sharmeenochinoy) October 23, 2017
I don't quite understand how doctor tending 2 emergency patients thinks it's ok to take a female patient info & add her on FB! 2/2 unethical
— Sharmeen Obaid (@sharmeenochinoy) October 23, 2017
Unfortunately the doctor messed with the wrong women in the wrong family and I will definitely report him! Harassment has 2 stop!
— Sharmeen Obaid (@sharmeenochinoy) October 23, 2017
The hospital posted a response on its social media pages: “The Aga Khan University Hospital always maintains the highest standards of confidentiality, regardless of patient or employee status and will not release any information on its patients or employees. AKUH follows its policies and makes its decisions based on facts, and not on any social pressures.” When asked for an update, the hospital declined to answer.
The issue has taken Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by storm, sparking ferocious debates about whether or not the doctor was out of line and what actually constitutes harassment. Though a handful of celebrities have backed the director, including TV actress Ushna Shah who wrote on her own Facebook page about two doctors whose conduct made her cut pro-fessional ties, others have condemned her action as overreaction.
This week, while on a film promotion tour on Geo News for her upcoming film “Verna” which deals with rape and sexual abuse, actress Mahira Khan responded to a question regarding the controversy with support for the director.
“If a doctor uses your personal information to approach you, then it definitely is the wrong code of conduct. We have to use our platform to speak out. If someone is voicing their con-cern about, let’s say, a doctor, you have to use it. The debate is how far they take it.”
The doctor himself has yet to be identified and has not spoken out in his own defense. In the changing climate of how harassment and sexual abuse are being highlighted, particularly in the context of power dynamics, the response is a telling sign of how these incidents often go unreported.
