A Pakistani transgender activist who was shot six times in the northwestern region of the country on Sunday was kept waiting for an hour at a Peshawar hospital before she got a bed and treatment because the hospital authorities could not decide if she should be shifted to a male ward or a female one, reported the Tribune. This happened even when members of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Trans Action Alliance, the NGO the victim belongs to, kept insisting that Ayesha be given a bed with the women.

After much speculation, the Lady Reading Hospital authorities shifted her to the male ward and kept her in front near the toilet as the other occupants of the ward did not want her near them. “We are running since 9:30 am till now [1:30 PM] to find a bed for Ayesha. We were asked to go to a male ward and from the male ward to the female ward. Upstairs, downstairs but this hospital has no place where a transgender person in critical condition can be treated – no place in the ICU, no place in ward,” the organisation wrote on Facebook.

The hospital administration admitted to the delay in getting the victim treatment. A spokesperson said she had to wait because the hospital was trying to arrange a private room for her, after the other patients raised objection to her presence. She was attacked by a gang of miscreants who are known for harassing and extorting money from members of the transgender community. Police have registered an FIR against the perpetrators.