NAWABSHAH: A medical practitioner was restrained from continuing to perform surgeries and other medical interventions until receiving her post-graduate degree.

The case was filed in Sanghar’s consumer protection court by a man, Imam Bux Jalbani, whose wife, Kandi alias Moomal, had suffered serious post-delivery complications and the couple’s baby died following a caesarian section performed by gynaecologist Dr Ghazala Rashid at her private medical centre in Sanghar.

After hearing the two sides, Judge Ghulam Faiz Sajid of the Consumer Protection Court ordered Dr Ghazala to refund the treatment cost amounting to Rs792,000 to the complainant and a compensation of Rs200,000 to him for the sufferings and losses caused to the couple.

The judge ruled that in case of non-compliance, the respondent doctor could be sentenced to one-year imprisonment with a fine of Rs100,000.

The judge also restrained her from continuing with her practice of C-section or any other major surgical interventions or surgeries till receiving her post-graduate degree.

Complainant Jalbani, through his counsel Advocate Hosh Mohammed, had submitted in the court that he had admitted his wife in Dr Ghazala’s private medical centre in May 2019 for childbirth. He claimed that the doctor mishandled the case which resulted in the death of baby during the C-section whereas his wife went through severe post-operative complications. The doctor, he claimed, refused to further treat the patient and he had to get her admitted to the Peoples Medical University Hospital, Nawabshah, where she underwent abdominal hysterectomy.

He said he approached the Sindh Healthcare Commission, which held an inquiry and restrained the doctor from continuing with her medical practice.

The commission also asked her to refund medical expenses to the complainant but the doctor did not comply with the directive. He said he, finally, moved the consumer court.

Published in Dawn, November 19th, 2024