It is no secret that doctors and medical teams in Pakistan are often guilty of blatant medical negligence when it comes to treating patients, especially in life-saving procedures.
Medical audit laws are as good as absent. With the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) choosing to protect medical professionals instead of safeguarding patient welfare and safety, medical malpractice is rampant and doctors are almost completely free to do as they wish at the cost of human lives.
Being a medical professional, I have heard not one but many accounts of medical malpractice.
Here, I am penning a traumatic incident that my cousin Najeeb went through to highlight this deeply troublesome issue.
My cousin, who was born and raised in Saudi Arabia, has congenital Factor XIII deficiency. He underwent surgery for the evacuation of haematoma from his cerebrum twice in Saudi Arabia.
The doctors, despite coming to a hospital in a rush in both instances, had been communicated the initial diagnostic findings over the phone and were able to evacuate the clots, on both occasions at a local hospital in Dhahran, at only a 4-5 hours notice. Najeeb's health was restored on both occasions.
Unfortunately, after his father’s retirement, my cousin’s family moved to Pakistan, where most doctors are unaware of the Factor XIII deficiency and treat patients with the same protocol as that for other hemophiliac patients (Factor V and VIII deficient), as per common disease protocols taught at Pakistani medical and nursing schools.
Moreover, there are no laws governing the obligation of doctors to render complete medical information (about the prognosis or disease diagnosis) to their patients or attendants, even at leading hospitals (read: big business) of the country.
One day, my cousin started showing symptoms of neural shock. He was immediately rushed to a private clinic in Rawalpindi. The clinic provided first aid treatment and then referred the patient to a hospital.
On reaching the facility, Najeeb was sedated to provide symptomatic relief. He was then retained for a few hours at night, but the hospital staff did not take the initiative to treat a complicated case of spinal shock because they said they did not have the expertise.
