ISLAMABAD: Services at Mother and Child Hospital (MCH) of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) have been affected and a rift between the MCH head and her subordinates is adding to the misery of patients.

Against this backdrop, a number of applications had been filed with the ministry, the federal ombudsperson, and other forums to highlight the state of affairs at the hospital in the federal capital. According to the subordinates, Dr Nosheela Amjad, the head of the department at MCH, lacked ‘clinical experience’ and was not able to run the hospital properly. Dr Nosheela denied this and said her subordinates were irked due to her focus on merit and discipline.

According to documents available with Dawn, Associate Professor of Gynecology and Obstetrics (BS-19) Dr Nosheela was entrusted the current charge of professor on April 6, 2023. The nurses at MCH in a letter to the health ministry secretary alleged that the doctor was forcing the staffers to refer patients to her private practice in Max Health Hospital, Sector G-8. The MCH does not take patients after three months of pregnancy, but the patients can be booked in the hospital after their Max Health consultation, the letter alleged.

According to the nurses’ letter, the doctors are forced to tamper with the records of junior doctors if they “refuse to do illegal act”. The letter demanded a fact-finding inquiry into the issue.

Staffers allege MCH head incompetent; Dr Nosheela says staff turned on her for enforcing discipline

Another application submitted by the Young Doctors Association (YDA) that two “lucrative” posts i.e. director and the MCH HOD were being held simultaneously by Dr Nosheela in contravention of the judgement of the apex court.

An application submitted by a resident Shahid Khan, in the office of the Federal Ombudsman and available with Dawn, stated the doctors misbehaved with his wife in the labour room. The complainant alleged that when his wife tried to respond, the doctor allegedly told her that she “can kill her and no one will be able to prove it” as accidents can take place during surgeries/deliveries.

Another application alleged that Dr Nosheela was an assistant instructor at the population ministry and was transferred to Pims after the ministry was devolved in light of 18th Amendment. It claimed that she was not competent enough to run MCH.

A doctor working at MCH told Dawn that Dr Nosheela was from the admin cadre in the population ministry and had no experience with patients. She, however, managed to get her non-clinical experience converted into clinical experience to become the head of the department, she said. Later on, she got the additional charge of the MCH director to oversee the administrative issues which led to a conflict of interest.

“Besides that, she started her private setup at G-8 Max Health Hospital; just after one month she started issuing the policies regarding the admissions of patients to MCH and her policy is simple: mint the money from poor patients as the staff is forced to admit a limited number of patients and ask others to go to the private setup of Dr Nosheela,” she alleged. “Patients are booked from Pims for a private hospital in which the HOD sits. That practice should be stopped,” she suggested.

Administration’s view

Dr Nosheela rebutted the claims made by the staffers, saying the hospital staff turned on her because she was trying to ensure discipline and punctuality in the government-owned facility.

“Pims is the hospital from where I got my initial training. Unfortunately, the hospital was facing the same issues in 2023, which I observed during my training. I decided to address the issues thinking that Allah has given me the power so I must deliver,” she said.

The doctor alleged that the majority of the doctors were visiting the hospital only to mark their attendance and then leave the hospital during duty hours to deal with private deliveries.

“...they were also getting Rs 80,000 per month as non-practicing allowance [those who do not practice in private clinics get Rs 80,000 per month]. I banned and stopped payments of non-practicing allowance and I don’t take it as well because I am also doing private practice,” she said.

“Pims had Dr Batool in the past and she was very famous for her dedication to the profession. I want to become Dr Batool. The fact is that doctors work in private hospitals till late at night and they don’t bother to reach Pims in the morning. I am not going to tolerate it because I cannot allow 60 postgraduates [trainee doctors] to run the Outpatient Department (OPD) of MCH because they can make blunders,” she said.

Replying to a question, Dr Nosheela said that there was a capacity of 60 births in a day and she admitted 60 patients [including those who are not registered] on a first come first serve basis and suggested others to go somewhere else.

“Pims is a tertiary care hospital and we should only have complicated and emergency cases. I never refuse complicated cases. Moreover, we check 300 patients in OPD daily. I believe that being a tertiary care hospital, we should not deal with normal deliveries at all,” she said.

Replying to a question, she said that it was correct that she and some other doctors were transferred from the devolved Ministry of Population but got the endorsement of the court when staff contacted courts against their appointments. “I don’t care about those who have been criticising. I just want to deliver and there is visible difference/improvement in services of MCH as compared to past,” Dr Nosheela claimed.

Published in Dawn, April 9th, 2024