The government-run Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC) has suffered a loss of Rs70 million, due to an attack by a group of lawyers, reveal PIC officials.

Dr Saqib Shafiq, the chief executive of the PIC, told Geo.tv over the phone, that the loss of Rs70 million includes damage to the main building, medical equipment and the doctors’ vehicles parked outside.

On Wednesday, a large group of lawyers ransacked the cardiology institute in Lahore. The protest quickly turned violent as patients and doctors fled, after lawyers used stones and bricks to smash windows and destroy hospital equipment in the emergency ward. According to the police complaint, the men in black coats also snatched a patient’s oxygen mask and ripped out another’s IV drip.

Two people, as a result, said Dr Shafiq, died in the emergency ward of the PIC, while three patients were rushed to other hospitals where they were later pronounced dead.

Even on Friday, two days after the incident, consulting doctors are afraid to resume work at the Institute, Dr Shafiq added.

“On the day of the attack, former inspector general police Nasir Durrani’s mother had come to the hospital for a blood test,” the doctor said, “even her car was not spared by the lawyers.”