Precious lives: Losing sight to ‘negligent treatment, apathetic institutions’

The boy lost his right eye due to medical negligence, his mother seeks support .

ISLAMABAD:

Nazia Bano, mother of a six-year-old Ashmal Khan who lost his right eye because of negligence in treatment by the doctors of Polyclinic, has taken the hospital administration to the court. She is claiming damages of Rs5 million.

Bano filed a case before the district session judge/consumer court of Islamabad in June this year for the damages incurred but the hospital administration has not taken any action over the subject so far. Talking to The Express Tribune, the Spokesperson for Polyclinic Dr Sharif Astori said, “The hospital administration is ready to appear before the court.”

Bano, a resident of Khanna Pul Rawalpindi and a wife of a taxi driver, had taken her elder son Ashmal to Polyclinic Hospital for treatment in May, 2007. She said the doctor in the emergency ward prescribed an injection and Amoxil, a syrup, for fever. About 12 hours after the boy was given the treatment, the started to suffer from an “allergic reaction”. The medicine affected his entire body, especially the eyes which had started bleeding.

Bano kept taking her son to different doctors for treatment but Khan’s condition did not improve. More than three years later, in October, 2010 she finally decided to raise her voice against the hospital administration through the media and finally the hospital agreed to give her son medical treatment. They also gave Khan, a thorough examination and referred him to Mayo Hospital in Lahore where he was admitted for 12 days from October 30, 2010 to November 8, 2010 and had a surgery.

However he did not recover and continues to suffer
from pain as his eye’s condition worsens with each passing day.

Bano said, "The doctor to whom the case was referred in Mayo Hospital did not treat my son well and was usually off duty.” Moreover, Bano had a miscarriage while travelling to Lahore and says seeking treatment for her son became a challenge for her in the wake of extreme poverty. “During this period I have suffered depression and above all financial loss as I have sold my gold jewelry as well as my husband’s taxi, “ said Bano while talking to The Express Tribune.

“My pleas are unheard, I don’t even have a singly rupee to pay the lawyers,”Bano said. She had even sent an application to the Prime Minister for financial support but had not gotten any response as yet. She appealed to “privileged class” for financial support, as according to the doctors, her son cannot be treated in Pakistan and has to be taken abroad.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 2^nd, 2011.