By Shahina Maqbool
The inquiry committee constituted to study the causes leading to the death of Huma Akram, wife of cricketer Wasim Akram, has apparently advised the government to ensure close supervision of practices of dental clinics and Botox facilities across the country; to standardise all aspects of private medical care; and to limit the working of doctors, ideally to one and maximally to two hospitals in order for patients to have focused attention, ‘The News’ learnt from credible sources within the Ministry of Health here on Wednesday.
One of the key recommendations forwarded to the Ministry pertains to the need for well-qualified dentists, who understand the value of obtaining complete information regarding the medical history of their patients — particularly with reference to heart-related disorders — before initiating any procedure or treatment.
The source informed that the committee has reportedly formulated two sets of recommendations — one for national implementation and the other for implementation in the two hospitals (National Hospital and Doctors Hospital), where Huma Akram remained under treatment before being airlifted abroad. Medical negligence has been proven to play a major role in the death.
Regarding Botox treatment, the committee is said to have advised the government to ensure that such treatment is rendered only in the light of stringent warnings by the Centres for Disease Control, Atlanta, and that patients are duly informed about all hazards including incidences of death. It is pertinent to mention that the Malaysian government has banned Botox treatment for cosmetics as it contains swine ingredients.
The committee has reportedly called for standardisation and ISO certification of private medical care. It has also advocated in favour of merit-based increase in the remuneration of doctors so that they refrain from practicing in multiple health facilities, thereby contributing to compromised patient care.
Furthermore, the government is said to have been advised to see that private hospitals with full-fledged indoor facilities must also have full-time medical staff including specialists and should not rely on part-time consultants shuttling from one health facility to another.
According to a source close to Wasim Akram, this was one of the many concerns raised by the former cricketer during his interactions with friends. He expressed strong reservations about the same consultants working in both hospitals where his wife was taken for treatment. Apparently, the doctor because of whom he had decided to shift his wife to the other hospital was practicing in both health facilities. Instances are aplenty of doctors working in the issue of lack of full-fledged pharmacies and well-equipped diagnostic facilities within hospital premises is also reported to have been flagged with the government.
Wasim is said to have complained of unnecessary, avoidable running around by relatives of patients to get investigations and medicines. There are many hospitals that merely have laboratory points. Often, when handling complicated cases, it always pays for consultants and laboratory staff to have frequent interactions with each other for efficient patient management.
Lack of compassion among doctors is another factor that aggravates the agony of patients and their attendants. Wasim is said to have complained of lack of consideration and attention, and a sluggish response on part of some consultants. He also encountered problems in having Huma discharged without paying a security deposit at night at the National Hospital, not to mention the agony suffered on account of the inappropriate attitude of the hospital’s lower staff, which was looking for tips even at a time when the patient was being transferred to another hospital in critical condition.
The inquiry committee has also recommended the creation of Infection Control Committees in all hospitals.
As far as specific recommendations for the attending hospitals are concerned, the inquiry report has attributed failure and delay in diagnosis of infective endocarditis and fungal infection in Huma to lack of continuity of care and quality time. It is for this very reason that the government has been advised to ensure that doctors limit their working to preferably one, but certainly not more than two hospitals.
The committee is said to have suggested that although it may not have been possible to prevent the eventual tragedy of Huma’s death even if she were under treatment in the world’s best medical centres, given that the complications she suffered from carried a mortality rate of over 95 per cent, it would be appropriate for the government to refund all expenses of her treatment, including the charges of the air ambulance.
Furthermore, it is also believed to have recommended that warnings be issued to all concerned medical personnel involved in her care — starting from the doctor who performed her scaling to the one who provided Botox treatment to her. “It is time the government realised that the conditions in which health services are being delivered to patients in Pakistan cannot be rectified through mere warnings. Many lives are lost each day on account on negligent medical practices constituting the foundation of an ailing health system,” a public health expert commented while talking to ‘The News.’
Had Huma not been the wife of a celebrity, she too would have faded away like an ordinary soul, with no inquiry committees being constituted and no probes being ordered at the highest political level to fix responsibility. “Her death must at least propel the government into a proactive mode so that lasting measures are put into place to save precious human lives. This is the best solace that the government can offer right now,” another health professional stated.