Fauzia Wahab’s death: PMDC to probe ‘medical negligence’

Council has sent a letter to the hospital asking for the MNA’s medical records.

ISLAMABAD:

The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) on Tuesday constituted a committee to probe allegations of medical negligence causing PPP MNA Fouzia Wahab’s death.

The committee will consist of senior doctors who will ascertain if medical negligence played a role in the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader’s death after or during her gallbladder operation in a Karachi hospital.

In a letter dated June 18, the council asked the Orthopaedic and Medical Institute in Karachi to submit a list of all doctors concerned with the case and the degree of their involvement along with a brief summary of the case with relevant records and the role of each doctor during the medical procedures.

Wahab died on Sunday from complications following her primary gall bladder surgery, which led to internal bleeding and serious breathing problems.

“The reply must be accompanied by an attested copy of the PMDC registration certificate of each attending doctor,” said the letter.

PMDC Registrar Dr Ahmed Nadeem Akbar said, “It seems strange that a person with a gallstone would die of septicemia--- a life-threatening infection that spreads very quickly through the body. Wahab went into critical condition two weeks after a relatively routine surgery and had been under treatment for the past three weeks.”

Dr Akbar said the surgery was “simple” and “it is difficult to understand how this infection developed”.

He said if the probe committee finds any kind of negligence on the part of any of the doctors who treated her, the PMDC will cancel their license refer the case to a criminal court.

He added that all the medical reports will be properly checked and reports regarding medical negligence would be investigated by a panel of the country’s leading doctors.

He said every year PMDC cancels the licenses of three to four doctors across the country over medical negligence.

“PMDC has been monitoring such cases on regular basis to ensure the safety of patients and negligence, if any, will be dealt with strictly under PMDC rules,” said the doctor. He added that people should report cases of medical negligence to the council to help create a better healthcare system in the country.

The Interior Ministry has also constituted a committee to probe Wahab’s death.

Published In The Express Tribune, June 20^th, 2012.