Swabi doctor faces action for demanding PPE

Hospital sources say DHO pressurising Dr Mustafa to confess to sharing pictures on social media for publicity

SWABI: The Swabi district health department on Saturday conducted an inquiry against the Swabi-based doctor for sharing a photo on social media while wearing a plastic bag as a face mask and examining a patient.

An image of Dr Amir Mustafa of the Yar Hussain Category-D hospital while examining patients wearing a plastic bag as a face mask made rounds on the microblogging network Twitter. The viral photograph came in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, which has created a shortage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in the province; leaving healthcare officials working on the frontlines at the highest risk of infection.

Following the social media outcry questioning state of healthcare in the province, the provincial health department directed the Swabi District Health Officer (DHO) Kaleemullah Khan to conduct an inquiry into the incident.

DHO Kaleemullah in his inquiry report has recommended strict disciplinary action against Dr Amir Khan for allegedly demoralising healthcare staff and defaming the provincial health department.

A copy of the inquiry report which is available with The Express Tribune said that Dr Amir performed his duty in the morning shift but deliberately attended the hospital’s evening shift for taking pictures and recording video and sharing it on social media. The person shown in the picture is not an actual patient but a nearby drugstore owner who was called by the doctor to pretend as a patient, the report claimed.

The report further claimed that the health department had already supplied 300 gloves and 150 face masks to the Yar Hussain Category-D Hospital on March 24 this year.

The inquiry report also claimed that Dr Amir has confessed to have deliberately done this act to get media attention and also to force the health department for his transfer as a medical specialist.

The report also alleged that performance of the medical officer in question was poor in the recent polio campaigns.

However, speaking to The Express Tribune several employees of Yar Hussain Category-D Hospital who requested not to be named rejected the charges framed against Dr Ami Mustafa. They said DHO Kaleemullah had been pressurising Dr Amir Mustafa to accept the charges or face serious consequences.

Dr Amir has performed in the most sensitive areas where a police official was attacked during anti-polio campaigns, they added

A source at the hospital told that all the face masks and gloves were provide on the day after the image went viral on social media. The source also rejected the claim that the patient shown in the picture was not actual patient. The purpose of the picture was to draw attention of the authorities for provision of PPE and not for transfer as a medical specialist, the source added.

Speaking exclusively to The Express Tribune on March 26, Amir Khan, who holds a basic medical degree from Kohat Medical College and a specialty from England, had shared that his act was a form of protest against the lack of medical facilities in his hometown of Swabi

“As taxpayers, it is our right to be provided with all necessary medical safety equipment by the government but we are to fend for ourselves in this difficult time which is why I have been compelled to wear a polybag on face to register my protest,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 29^th, 2020.