May 25, 2006	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 26, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, May 24: Pakistan Medical and Dental Council, the regulator of medical profession, has awarded light punishment to only 12 doctors during the last 10 years for their negligence.

There are some 250 other cases lying pending with the Council, sources told Dawn.

The harshest sentence given to a doctor for his negligence, which cost a patient his life, was suspension of his registration for a period of two years. Dr Abdul Majid had been found guilty of not attending to his patient Ayaz Sagher, 21, when his condition deteriorated after an operation.

Section 31 of PMDC Ordinance titled Withdrawal of Registration authorises the Council to permanently cancel the registration of a doctor or dentist found guilty or suspend him/her for a limited period.

However, the PMDC Secretary Sohail Karim Hashmi contends that this punishment of up to two years in cases resulting in death of patient was enough. You can’t just overlook the countless number of patients that had benefited from the same doctor.

He also contended that PMDC was not a judicial court and anyone not satisfied with the proceedings of the council could seek legal remedy and get the doctor punished accordingly.

However, he admitted that the PMDC Ordinance was vague about the misconduct and negligence of doctor and did not specify the extent of punishment of the different degrees of negligence.

Others punished after being found guilty of negligence were Dr Abdul Khaliq Sheikh, whose certificate was suspended for one year because he had tried to seek recognition of a fake MPH degree from PMDC.

The council in another incident of death of a patient served Dr Robina Javed of Railways Hospital Rawalpindi with a mere warning.

Dr Shamim Akhtar was given a warning notice and asked to undergo a refresher course at a teaching hospital after her patient Ms Mahjabeen lost life because of her negligence.

A dentist Dr Arshad Hameed, who had removed 2 healthy teeth of his patient without his consent and replaced them with artificial teeth, was also only warned.

The Council suspended the registration of Dr Muhammad Shabbir of Victoria Hospital Bhawalpur for one year though his own boss and chief executive of the hospital had recommended a five-year ban. The doctor had invited his inexperienced friend Dr Ahmed Bhatti to learn intubations for anaesthesia, who then inserted a tube in oesophagus leading to hypoxia, brain damage, cardiac arrest and later the death of the patient. The trainee doctor, Dr Bhatti, was also suspended for one year.

The Council deemed it enough to serve a warning letter on Dr Farzana Jamil, who had damaged the uterus of Mrs Zulfiqar Ali during D&C operation because of which she could never conceive in future.

Dr Akhtar Hussain of NICVD Karachi was warned and asked to be careful in future after his patient died since she was apparently not properly operated.

A gynaecologist Dr Rashida Ghaffar got one year suspension as her patient Mrs Tayyaba Riaz fell victim to inappropriate administration of anaesthesia. The anaesthesiast Dr Jawaid Zia too had to undergo a year’s suspension.

While the doctors, whose negligence had led to death of patients were either warned or handed 1-2 years suspension, Dr Tauseef Ahmed was served with one year suspension for issuing bogus medical certificates.