This is with reference to a letter dated January 1 titled “A most belligerent doctor” by Natasha Shammul Khan.
WOKING, UK: This is with reference to a letter in your newspaper of January 1 titled “A most belligerent doctor” by Natasha Shammul Khan. I have three observations in response to Ms Khan’s letter: 1) It is the right of patients to be treated with respect and dignity and any doctor failing to comply with this fundamental principle can be investigated in a disciplinary hearing. This, and not clinical mistakes, is the most common reason for complaints against doctors in the developed world; 2) Punctuality is an integral part of professional behaviour. It is unfair to expect patients to wait for long periods since time is valuable for patients, as well as doctors; 3) I can understand that the patient was treated badly but she should have gone through the proper channels. By this I mean, she should have filed a written complaint against the said doctor with the hospital’s administration.
Dr Shah
Published in The Express Tribune, January 4th, 2012.
