A surgeon at a private hospital in Abbottabad performed an eye surgery on a patient, who had been admitted for an arm surgery. The doctor then blamed the mistake on a document mix-up and the hospital officials claimed higher moral grounds saying the doctor could have easily concealed his mistake but he didn’t.

The authorities have shut down the hospital.

The patient, an aged woman, was admitted for surgery at the private healthcare facility on Saturday after she had broken her arm.

The patient’s family protested against the negligence of the hospital staff and demanded swift action against the culprits.

The Abbottabad assistant commissioner and district health officer took notice of the incident and sealed the hospital premises.

The officials also directed the hospital administration to close down the hospital and vacate all the staff within one day.

The surgeon said that the unfortunate incident happened due to the mishandling of the patient’s medical records and that he had been handed the wrong file by the hospital staff.

An official at the hospital said that the administration informed the family of the patient as soon as the staff realized the mistake.

“The surgeon could easily hide the mistake by shifting the patient to the Orthopaedics ward, without anyone noticing. However, he took it as his moral and ethical duty to inform the patient’s family regarding the incident,” he added claiming higher moral ground.

It is not clear immediately how an orthopedic surgery case ended up at the operating table of an eye surgeon.