Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Mar 2: High Court took serious note of the medical negligence in the month of September last year which has caused the death of a young girl and also the non-availability of doctors during night hours and treated the matter as Public Interest Litigation.
Justice Mohammad Yousuf Wani while hearing the plea of father of the girl expressed his serious concern over the way the deceased girl was treated in the hospital resulting into her death. He referred the matter to the Chief Justice for treating the issue as Public Interest and the Chief Justice has approved the matter to be treated as PIL.
The young girl Saboora Arshid, daughter of Arshid Ahmed, resident of Arihal village Pulwama has become the victim of medical negligence last year. She was M.Sc. Biochemistry and was scheduled to pursue her Ph. D Degree in Punjab University, came to be admitted on 14.09.2024 in Mohammadia Nursing Home Pulwama for her surgery as she was suffering from nasal blockage with Epistaxis.
Unfortunately, she reportedly developed severe complications during her post operative care in the hospital where after she was taken to the SMHS hospital. However, after a considerable delay on account of non-availability of the critical care ambulance she was declared dead at SMHS hospital upon being admitted in the ICU room.
The incident shocked the society in general and locality in particular. Government took a serious note of the matter and ordered an inquiry. The enquiry report dated 19.10.2024 conducted by the Directorate of the Health Services, Kashmir has referred to some sort of carelessness and lapses on the part of the concerned hospital authorities as well as the doctors attending the patient during the post operative care.
District Magistrate, Pulwama, also ordered magisterial enquiry in the incident. The enquiry committee constituted by the DHSK consisting of qualified doctors in their detailed report have inter alia observed that the doctor preferably Anesthesiologist should have accompanied the patient in ambulance as patient was critical.
The committee also recommended the attachment of concerned anesthetist to DHSK with immediate effect banning her private practice till final outcome of all enquiries and autopsy report. It was also recommended that Mohammadia Nursing Home, Pulwama, shall procure their own critical care ambulance, bedside Laryngoscope and shall organize BLS and ACLS training for their staff in the larger interest of public and patient care.
It is alleged in the petition that concerned nursing home had not its own critical care ambulance which delayed the shifting of the deceased to the SMHS hospital, Srinagar. The competent enquiry committee of the DHSK has deferred ascertaining of the cause of death till the receipt and perusal of the autopsy report which is still awaited.
“This Court cannot lose sight of the fact that even a minor procedure or surgery can have the known medical complications and a layman cannot allege the medical negligence which can only be viewed by a competent team of doctors belonging to the field”, Justice Wani recorded.
The court observed that in the present times of mercenary approach, the most noble profession of doctors has got polluted and the doctors who are the ambassadors of the God on the earth discharging divine function have been influenced by the elements of greed and rivalry.
The noble profession, court added, is presently being practiced as a commercial job. The private hospital in question was not even registered at the time when the surgery of the deceased was conducted nevertheless, the proprietor had already applied for the same.
“Extension of registration especially of a private hospital is not an ordinary thing and to be taken as casual as with the advancement of the medical science, the competent authority has to ensure whether all the advanced and required medical equipments/machinery is in place in the hospital seeking extension in its registration”, reads the order.
The court further added that the doctors whose private practice stands banned and in lieu of which they have been getting the handsome allowances are resorting to private practices. The critical care ambulances are not still available in most of the private hospitals / nursing homes.
“Even there are complaints of non-availability of the Doctors during night hours in the Govt Hospitals, especially in rural areas. The practice of random referrals of patients from the District and Sub-District Hospitals, also needs to be looked into”, read the order.
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