Child delivered in the open dies due to cold

PESHAWAR: The administration of Mardan Medical Complex on Sunday took notice of a complaint lodged by a family against the hospital staff and suspended five female doctors and three nurses for allegedly refusing to tend to a pregnant woman on Saturday night.

In its complaint against the doctors, the family alleged they refused to attend to a pregnant woman who delivered a child in the open. The child died due to severe cold and lack of medical care. Sabir Rahman, a resident of Ibrahim Killay, Charsadda Road, in Mardan complained that he took his pregnant wife to the District Headquarters Hospital on Saturday night. He said the doctors referred them to the Mardan Medical Complex (MMC), saying they didn't have trained gynecologists to handle his wife.

"The staff at the DHQ Hospital wasted a lot of our time and then refused to take our patient, citing lack of trained female doctors. We were sent to the MMC at night where the female doctors refused to tend to my wife and asked us to take her to the same female doctor who had treated her before," he recalled.

The man said he implored the doctors and nursing staff but in vain. He said the female doctors later told him to take the woman back to her home as there was enough time in delivery. Sabir Rahman said it was around 2am when they left the hospital but his wife again started complaining of severe pain and they took her back to the MMC.

The doctors at the MMC, he claimed, refused to take her, saying she was not their patient. "I cannot tell you how we spent that night. We were sitting outside the Labour Room of the hospital and my wife finally delivered a child in the open," he complained..

He said the child later died as there was severe cold and she was not provided any medical assistance. The MMC administration took notice of the incident and suspended five doctors and two nurses who were on duty that night.

When reached by phone, Dr Javed Iqbal, a physician and spokesperson for the hospital, told The News that a three-member inquiry committee had been formed to investigate the incident and submit report within 72 hours.

The committee includes Prof Mohammad Hussain, head of Surgical B Unit, Prof Mohammad Said, head of ENT Department, and Dr Tamjeed Gul, senior registrar of Surgical A Unit. Dr Javed Iqbal said the five doctors suspended were Dr Saima Amin, Dr Nuzhat Ashfaq, Dr Muzda, Dr Nazia and Dr Maria. Three staff nurses, Rukhsana, Ghazala and Shaista were also suspended.

The suspended staff would face further disciplinary action if found guilty by the inquiry committee. The MMC is tertiary care hospital of Bacha Khan Medical College. It has different specialties with enough staff but patients brought there are referred to private medical and surgical centres in Mardan or Peshawar.

The government has allocated millions of funds to the hospital but patients are still suffering. "Take the example of newly built OPD Block that cost huge funds. Not a single senior doctor bothers to come there and examine patients at the OPD. Patients need services not tiles and marbles," said a faculty member of the hospital on condition of anonymity. He said the chairman of the Board of Governors (BoG) was sitting in Islamabad while the medical director and hospital directors were too weak to manage the hospital affairs.