Death on the floor: Three more senior doctors sacked

Doctors were suspended for showing negligence in providing medical treatment to a patient from Kasur who passed away

LAHORE: Three more doctors were suspended on Monday for showing negligence in providing medical treatment to a patient from Kasur who passed away on the floor of Jinnah Hospital recently owing to unavailability of beds. Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif had constituted an inquiry committee, which fixed responsibility on Lahore General Hospital’s Prof Dr Jawad Zaheer and Jinnah Hospital’s Prof Dr Tanveerul Islam and Prof Dr Zafar Iqbal. Punjab Health Secretary Najam Ahmad Shah suspended the three senior doctors on Monday on the recommendations of the inquiry committee. Shah also stipulated that the principal or medical superintendent would be held responsible if any patient was seen on the floor of public hospital. The decision came after a late Sunday night meeting, chaired by the Punjab specialised healthcare and medical education minister. It was decided that all professors of teaching hospitals would sit in out-patient departments two days a week from 10:30am to 2:00pm.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 10^th, 2017.