SAHIWAL: After the sacking of three doctors of the Sahiwal Teaching Hospital on Thursday due to alleged negligence on their part which led to the death of a road crash victim, the health department suspended a senior doctor of the SMC and issued show-cause notices to three others on Friday

Meanwhile, the local chapter of the Young Doctors Association closed the SMC OPD for two hours on Friday and insisted it was not the fault of the sacked emergency doctors.

Dr Usama, YDA Sahiwal District President, demanded an inquiry into the matter. He said the hospital administration in its report to the health secretary had confirmed that the road accident patient died because of delay in the CT scan.

The YDA president said delay in the scan was because of Rs800 fee which had been imposed illegally by the administration. He said since the family of the deceased was not able to pay the amount in time, the scan was delayed for over an hour.

Dr Usma said CT scan and all other vital tests in emergencies of all teaching hospitals of Punjab were done free.

Sources said three seniors doctors – Dr Nasir Jamal, Head of Radiology Department, Dr Asif, Head of Neuro Department and Dr Shahid Ali, Head of ENT – were issued show-cause notices while Dr Attaur Rehman, Head of Surgical Ward, was issued show-cause and suspension notices by the health secretary.

The show-cause to Dr Nasir states “due to illegal demand of fee by CT scan operator, delay in care of road accident patient which led to his death.”

Dr Jamal told Dawn fee imposition was not his jurisdiction rather it was the jurisdiction of Dr Nisar Saeedi, the Medical Superintendent.

Sources in the hospital told Dawn show-cause notices to Dr Asif, Dr Atta and Dr Shahid had nothing to do with this incident but they had some administrative issues with Principal Prof Dr Imran Hasan.

Dawn tried to reach MS Dr Nasir Saeedi to get his comments but he did not attend cell phone calls.

Dr Usama said it was clear where the problem was but three doctors of the emergency ward were sacked for no negligence on their part.

Published in Dawn, November 2nd, 2024