Fatally Shot Pakistani Trans Woman Was Moved Between Male and Female Hospital Wards

A Pakistani transgender rights activist was fatally shot on Sunday — and when she was rushed to the Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar, staff spent "over an hour" deciding whether to bring her to the male or female ward, the Express Tribune reported on Monday. 

The woman, identified only as Alesha, was eventually set up in "a bed in front of the lavatory," Qamar Naseem, a coordinator at Blue Veins, an advocacy group for women and trans people, told the Tribune. Alesha died on Wednesday, the Tribune reported.

Naseem told the Tribune that Alesha was attacked by a "gang" that targets and extorts local members of the trans community.

When Alesha was first admitted to Lady Reading Hospital, staff ignored requests to move her to the female ward, and moved her back and forth between the male and female wards, Naseem told the Tribune.

In a Facebook post on Monday, local activist group Trans Action Khyber Pakhtunkhwa said that they had to pay for a private room: "Finally had to hire a room at Bolton Block. The hospital administration clearly told us that they cannot put us in male or female wards and we have to hire a private room."

After Alesha's death on Wednesday, the group blamed the Lady Reading Hospital for failing her: "The TransAction Board Member and the district coordinator of the transgender Provincial Alliance Alesha died in LRH because she never received intensive medical attention," the group posted, along with the hashtag #EndTransPhobia.

A spokesperson for Lady Reading Hospital told the Tribune that "the hospital was only acting as per the complaints of those admitted."

A funeral for Alesha was held on Wednesday.