Two doctors sued over ‘botched’ operation

Doctors deny that the woman was operated on by an amateur.

LAHORE:

A consumer court on Tuesday issued notices for May 12 to two doctors who are being sued for Rs237,000 for allegedly botching an operation.

Altaf Munir, a resident of Kot Radha Kishen, Kasur, filed the petition stating that he and his wife visited Zafar General Hospital and met with its chief executive, Dr Zafar Iqbal, on November 28, 2010, because of a pain in her uterus.

The doctor advised her to have an operation, the petitioner said. He claimed that his wife was operated on at Zafar General by Amina Naseem, who is not a doctor. He said he had paid Rs12,000 for the operation but his wife’s pain persisted. He took her to the Social Security Hospital on Multan Road, where doctors told him the operation had not been conducted properly and they would have to operate on his wife again, he said.

The plaintiff asked the court to direct the respondents, Dr Iqbal and Dr Asim Chughtai, to pay him Rs12,000 as the cost of the operation, Rs10,000 for medicines, Rs1,000,000 in damages for mental torture, Rs100,000 in damages for negligence and Rs15,000 for lawyer’s fees.

The court issued notice to the respondents for May 12 to record their statements.

Dr Iqbal, speaking to The Express Tribune, denied there had been any negligence in the operation.

He also denied that Naseem had operated on the complainant’s wife. He said while she had worked briefly at the hospital, she was not a doctor. He said that Dr Chughtai and Dr Ijaz of Services Hospital had operated on the plaintiff’s wife.

Dr Chughtai said that he had operated on the complainant’s wife. He said her family had told him that she was doing well and was not in any pain.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 4^th, 2011.