Murtaza Bhutto

heart revived which is a rare phenomenon. He said till he was taken to the
operation theatre there were a large number of people, about 35, mostly
relatives and friends of Mir Murtaza, watching the treatment being given in
the ICU. The then prime minister, accompanied by the then chief minister;
Yousuf Talpur, Munawar Suhrawardy, the speaker of the PA who was then
the acting as governor, and Ms Naheed Khan also visited after 5 am. The
post-mortem was not conducted till he was in the hospital until 6:15 am.
Dr Ibrahim Soorma, 63, was the next witness, who migrated from Burma
(Myanmar) in 1978. The witness was called on emergency duty at 9:35 pm
and at about 9:50 pm he reached the ICU after a long detour, because of the
road blockade at Schon Circle. He said he knew Mir Murtaza personally as he
had seen him a couple of times when he called on him as a doctor and he
identified him in the ICU, where Dr Ejaz, RMO, was trying to pass through
the endotracheal tube through the mouth to pass oxygen into the body,
because of the bleeding and damage to the tongue and jaws.
The drips, he said, were on and the cardiac monitor was showing a flat line
indicating the stoppage of the hear beats. After his arrival in the ICU, he got
involved in giving medical attention and he also tried to pass through the
endotracheal tube, but failed.
The doctors made a hole in the neck to pass a tube through which oxygen
could be passed to the lungs, but it only worked as far as restoration of
breathing was concerned. "We kept on resuscitation for restoration of blood
supply so that he could have sufficient blood for the vital organs and his
body could have enough oxygen for his brain, kidneys and liver," he said.
The doctor was of the opinion that if these organs start working again, they
can be revived, and though he did not start breathing, "we were hoping that a
time will come when his heart could start beating again, but the cardiac
monitor was showing the line flat." The heart started beating again after
sometime, but not immediately.
Q: If the heart stops, the blood doesn't reach the brain?
A: Maximum time allowed is five minutes. If oxygen is restored to the brain
there is a chance of recovery within five minutes, and once the brain is
damaged it cannot be revived again and the brain's higher functions stop.
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