Medical negligence?

Deaths due to negligence are, tragically, not that unusual at our hospitals. But, in many cases, the patients who died at public sector hospitals over the last month in Punjab perished as the direct result of a somewhat different kind of neglect. At least 22 deaths took place as a consequence of the strike by young doctors. The chief justice of the Lahore High Court has ordered the chief secretary to set up a commission to inquire into ascertaining responsibility for these deaths, and asked why nothing was done to prevent them. The role of the health secretary has been questioned as has that of the chief minister, with the court asking why Shahbaz Sharif, who usually does not show hesitation in suspending officials, had chosen to do little this time round.

Certainly, even with the strike now over, there are many questions that need to be answered. The petition before the court asks essentially that doctors responsible for the strike, and for the suffering of thousands, be punished. Like a classic murder mystery, there are many suspects in the cases of the multiple deaths. The Punjab government has said it would take more resources than it has available to meet the doctor’s demands; the Young Doctor’s Association seeks equal pay for doctors everywhere and says a huge brain drain has occurred due to the failure to establish this, while there have also been suggestions that the strike may have been orchestrated by senior doctors, with a demand made for the dismissal of the principal of a leading medical college.

The commission to be set up needs to look into all these aspects of the strike, go about the business of determining guilt and also review the other issues raised by the young doctors, including those pertaining to work conditions, so that a similar situation can be avoided in the future.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 11^th,  2011.