Eye for an eye: Surgery ‘performed by nurse’ to be investigated

Woman who lost left eye seeks refund for operation to fix right eye.

LAHORE:

A woman who lost her eye in unsuccessful surgery has appealed for a refund so she can have her other eye fixed, while the hospital where she was treated has asked the Punjab Employees Social Security Institute to investigate the circumstances of the operation.

Raiban Bibi, 60, lost her eye after an operation at the Nawaz Sharif Social Security Hospital on May 2. She initially thought she had been operated on by an inexperienced female doctor, but the hospital record indicated that during her surgery, the only people present were eye specialist Dr Rana Riaz Ahmed, and nurse Safina Ajmal, raising the question of whether or not the latter had in fact performed the operation.

Raiban Bibi later wrote to the PESSI Commissioner seeking a refund. “I cannot see a person standing one foot from me. I have written an application to the authorities concerned to return the Rs20,000 I paid for the operation so that I could get my other eye treated, but so far nothing has been done,” she told The Express Tribune.

In her application to the commissioner, she wrote: “A lady doctor tried to do my operation but when it took a lot of time, she asked the male doctor in the operation theatre to help her, saying that she had wasted two lenses. I asked the male doctor not to let her experiment on my eye ... when my bandage was removed the next day I had severe pain and when my son took me to a private clinic they sent me back to surgery. My eye had to be removed ultimately.”

She told The Tribune that she had later discovered that the woman she thought was a doctor may have actually been a nurse “I was conscious when I was being operated on,” she said. “There was no other woman in the operation theatre.”

In a written response to NSSS Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Anjum Shabbir, Dr Ahmed denied that there had been any negligence on the part of doctors.

On May 25, Dr Shabbir had sought an explanation from Dr Ahmed as to how he had performed the surgery when he was supposed to be on earned leave from April 11 to June 29.

Dr Ahmed wrote back: “During my leave period I was permitted to perform surgery by my head of department. All surgeries were performed under the supervision of my seniors. There was no negligence during the surgery or in the post operative care of Raiban Bibi.”

A hospital official said that the rules did not permit doctors on leave to perform surgeries, and that at least two qualified doctors were required to be present during eye operations, along with other staff.

Dr Shabbir wrote to the PESSI director (medical) recommending that Bibi be reimbursed. “Here is a case of genuine hardship and recommended for reimbursement,” he wrote.

The hospital administration also sent a report to PESSI Commissioner Capt (retired) Sher Alam Mehsud on June 1. “You are requested to conduct a proper fact-finding inquiry to fix the responsibility for the loss of the left eye of Raiban Bibi, as well as to meet the ends of justice,” says the report.

Capt Mehsud said that he would decide what action to take in a few days.

Bibi’s son urged the Punjab government and courts to help them. “I have been visiting various offices for the last two months. Compensation is one thing but we aren’t even getting back the money we paid for the operation. We want the chief minister and chief justice to take notice of the incident and get us relief,” said Ghulam Murtaza.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 19^th, 2011.