KARACHI, May 12: Corrective steps should be taken immediately by the staff of the hospital where a mishap takes place so that similar problems do not arise in future, said a senior doctor on Monday while discussing an episode in which a woman lost her life apparently because of negligence on the part of a surgical team.

Another doctor, belonging to the Pakistan Medical Association, said when deciding on such matters the track records of the professionals concerned should be kept in view. He added that in all such cases compensation packages be given to the people who had been affected adversely by the conduct of the physicians or surgeons.

Prof Naeem Jafarey, vice chancellor of the Ziauddin Medical University, told Dawn that cases had been reported from all over the world in which patients had died due to errors and oversights. “This is not the first time that a person has died has because a swab had been left in the abdomen,” said Prof Jafarey.

“Neither is this the last one. However, what’s of utmost importance is whether or not the hospital in question had taken steps to ensure that the tragedy is not repeated.” Action should be taken against staff who fail to take corrective measures.

Taking an entirely different angle on the same case, an office-bearer of the Pakistan Medical Association, Dr Shershah Syed, said action should be ordered only against those professionals who routinely messed up operations. “Look, before taking any action, the authorities should look at the surgeon’s track record.

“First of all they should determine if he or she routinely commits such errors or not,” said Dr Shershah. “Secondly, they should find out whether or not the mistake was intentional.

“If there were a number of cases in which the said surgeon had messed up operations then he should be suspended, even removed from his position. But if he has a good track record then we should pause before taking harsh steps against him.”

Asked if the PMA was asking Pakistanis to condone cases of negligence, he said: “No, no, not at all. What we are saying is that we should be extremely careful before we wreck someone’s career.”

Dr Shershah was of the view that anyone suffering at the hands of the doctors who had committed errors should be given compensation packages under a special fund monitored by a committee headed by either an official belonging to the hospital concerned or health ministry.

Asked if the PMA was seeking a system in which the aggrieved people’s silence was bought, he reiterated that the aim of the proposed scheme of things was not to condone wilful neglect on the part of medical professionals. He underscored the need to ascertain whether errors were made routinely and regularly in the health care centre in question.

A physician, talking to Dawn on condition of anonymity, claimed that the health care system would see no improvement until and unless accountability of doctors was institutionalized. He was of the opinion that laws against negligence and malpractice should be strengthened.

He claimed that the Pakistan Medical Association would never take steps against erring physicians and surgeons due to the simple reason that its office-bearers were elected on the basis of popular vote. “Similarly, all the moves aimed at exposing the doctors’ negligence will be thwarted by the association because these will expose the rot at the heart of the doctors’ community.”

In the meantime, the PMA on Monday issued a press release expressing its concern over what it described was harassment of public hospital doctors by officials of the provincial health department. The handout says:

“Pakistan Medical Association, Karachi, shows its great concern over irresponsible behaviour of harassing public hospital doctors by the Sindh Health Department.

“We believe that any error during performing of surgery, or any negligence for that matter, eventually lies on the part of the surgeon and for which we feel sorry. But and yet there are countless examples when innumerable surgeries have been performed in order to save lives of the patients.

“PMA condoles the sad demise of one lady patient who died in Civil Hospital Karachi because of unintentionally performed human error by the surgeon. This sort of human error globally recognized which shall not be depicted in a manner as it has been done with by the government functionaries.

“PMA demands that an inquiry be conducted in this regard accordingly instead of maligning the whole medical community at par harassing the public hospital serving doctors.”