Murky circumstances : Despite suspension, doctors still working at NICH

They were suspended after death of a child allegedly because of medical negligence

KARACHI: Despite being suspended on May 21 from government services or training, three postgraduate doctors are still performing their duties at the National Institute of Child Health (NICH).

Dr Ishrat, Dr Roshan and Dr Maria, along with charge nurses Mumtaz Bibi and Rizwana Parveen, technician Aijaz Kamran and nurse aid Muhammad Fayyaz were suspended for alleged negligence that led to the death of a four-year-old boy. The boy's family protested the doctors' presence at the hospital on Friday, challenging the hospital administration's decision to allow them to continue working.



They said that if the doctors are continuing their duties then the hospital must issue another order regarding the reappointment of the doctors and stop deceiving them.

However, the NICH spokesperson said the shortage of doctors at the institute forced the administration to call the suspended doctors in for the evening shift on the second day of their suspension.

Four-year-old Muhammad Mujtaba, a resident of Mehmoodabad, was operated on for hypospadias on May 19 at about 11:30am. According to his father, Imran Ali, the child was shifted to a ward at about 1pm instead of to post-operative care in the hospital's intensive care unit. Ali added that his son seemed unstable, as he was experiencing shortness of breath, had an elevated pulse and high grade fever about 105˚F.

While talking to The Express Tribune, he said that at the time it seemed like an adverse reaction to an anesthetic drug.  According to Ali, the anesthetist was guilty of 'criminal medical negligence' for shifting Mujtaba to the ward in a critical condition and for not being available during the child's recovery.



He blamed the hospital for his son's death, as there was no attending doctor in the ward where he was shifted and said that the patient was left unattended for several hours without a doctor. Ali added that rather than recovering, his son's condition deteriorated with the passage of time. A doctor attended to Mujtaba after several hours and gave him some medication, he said. When they asked the doctor to shift the child to the ICU, they were refused as there were no beds available, the father claimed. After that, the child was shifted for first aid to the emergency department, where he died.

Ali demanded the hospital administration investigate this apparent case of negligence and bring the culprits to justice in order to avoid such unfortunate cases in future. Mujtaba was his parents' only son and his death has left them battling depression and shock.

Later, an inquiry committee, comprising chairperson and professor of paediatric medicine Dr Khalid Mahmood A Khan, professor of paediatric surgery Dr Nasir Saleem Saddal and NICH deputy director Dr Arshad Hussain Domki, was formed to investigate the case on a complaint submitted by Ashique Hussain, a charge nurse and night supervisor at NICH.According to Dr Khan, the statements have been recorded and the CCTV footage has also been reviewed. "Every story has three sides, yours, mine and the truth, and hopefully the truth will prevail in this case and the person responsible will be brought to justice probably on Thursday when then report will be made public," he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 28^th, 2016.