Poor healthcare: Infant dies because of alleged negligence

Family registers case against private clinic

ISLAMABAD: Alleged criminal negligence by a female doctor at a private facility and the dearth of neonatal intensive care at public hospitals of the capital have apparently cost the life of a newborn which was delivered on the porch of a private clinic of the capital.

The incident took place in the Sector E-11/4 of the capital where a woman, who had paid the regular fee, went for the delivery of her child.

Shabbir Ahmad, the infant’s father, said that he had been regularly taking his wife Sughra to the clinic of Dr Uneza Khattak — who claimed to be a gynaecologist and obstetrician, sonologist, family physician and dietician —for the past two-and-a-half months for checkups after he was too late to register at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims).

On July 12, when Sughra began experiencing excruciating pain, Ahmad said he took his wife to see Dr Khattak at the clinic.

There, Ahmad said, he was asked to procure some medicines.

When he returned to the clinic, he discovered that the doctor had left with promises of returning after allegedly completing some chores.

Later, the family said the doctor prescribed some painkillers for the expectant woman and asked the couple to return home, noting that there was still time for the delivery.

Ahmad said that they finally returned home at 9pm after spending all day at the clinic with his wife.

When the pain did not subside, Ahmad said that he spent all night trying to contact the doctor and asking her what could be done for his wife.

With Sughra’s condition worsening, Ahmad rushed his wife to the clinic at around 6am on July 13 and asked the doctor to come to the facility immediately.

The doctor, though, reportedly did not turn up and the woman had to give birth to the infant on a sofa in the driveway.

When the doctor eventually showed up, instead of tending to the mother and the newborn, she allegedly asked the father to clean up the mess.

“You have made my driveway filthy, first clean it,” Ahmad quoted the doctor as saying.

He added that he went on to say he and his sister proceeded to clean the porch as the doctor took his wife inside the clinic.

Ahmad went on to claim that the baby, born prematurely, was left outside in hot and humid weather where he struggled to breathe.

“This baby will die soon anyway. Take him away,” Ahmad quoted the doctor as saying, who added that he was not provided with any advice on what to do for nearly 90 minutes.

The baby was eventually taken to Pims for treatment.

But with the hospital short of incubators, he was referred to the Khan Research Laboratories (KRL). Ahmad claimed that he was turned away from KRL since he did not have the Rs250,000 demanded.

Around seven hours after birth, the baby was put in an incubator at the Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH) in Rawalpindi at around 3pm. Born prematurely, the child could not survive due to the lack of timely neonatal intensive care.

The child passed away on the morning of July 14.

Ahmad claimed that owing to inappropriate medical care at government hospitals, he had taken his wife to a private clinic but the doctor only fleeced them, as he detailed spending around Rs70,000 over the two months for consultancy and medicines.

The couple has lodged a complaint against the clinic at the Golra police station. Officials of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) said the doctor was not a registered with the regulator as a postgraduate gynaecologist and obstetrician with records only showing an MBBS degree.

Dr Khttak refused to give her point of view, insisting on a personal meeting to share her side of the story.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 18^th, 2018.