Dr Fiaz Fazili has minutely examined the intricacies of hospital management (GK 6th July, 2011) and has stressed the need for a culture of safety in health care organizations. The author’s comments are valuable for reducing the mortality rate in hospitals. However, the assumption of Dr Fiaz Fazili that “Doctors kill more people than plane crashes” is not to be construed that the doctors are essentially the killers. If, however, a patient is in the safe hands of doctors and  lives after surgery, the surgeon has really done justice to his job and saved a precious life which adds to the doctor’s fame and fortune and he wins the confidence of the people and the society at large. The job of a doctor, physician or a surgeon is a true mission and in this he is guided by the divine power. On the other hand a plane crash is a chance accident in which the people on board are unfortunately killed. The purpose of airways authorities is not killing the passengers but a safe landing at the proper destination.
The unfortunate death of patients in hospitals could be attributed to many facts. The patients usually seek admission in hospitals in the final stage of their disease when chances of survival are least because people are not generally health conscious until they actually fall victim to malignant diseases. In many road accidents the victims are not brought to the hospitals in time due to many reasons like traffic jams, non availability of transport or restrictions due to curfews etc. Their death as a result cannot be always a doctor’s fault.
The young working force of doctors in hospitals is under stress due to heavy  work load. Since they are freshers and have a little expertise of handling serious cases in outdoors and operation theatres, they need proper guidance of senior doctors who stay away on emergency occasions, with the result the patient’s life is at higher risk. The affluent class of the society prefer private nursing homes and clinics where they receive full patient care. This is the reason that private practice is so popular in the state or elsewhere because all cases are handled by experienced doctors who work hard in their private clinics with higher responsibility. The fact is that the private practice is the popular practice and as a result the culture of safety prevails more in private clinics than in government hospitals.
In government hospitals the treatment becomes the unmanageable due to shortage of equipments like ventilators, dialysis apparatus, the anaesthesia etc.  This poses a threat to the life of the serious patients. The growing number of doctors in the country without job avenues have rendered them idle. The growing unemployment of the doctors as a result has promoted the philosophy of private practice and brain drain. Thus the common people are deprived of essential health services.
In government hospitals, however, a serious threat to patient care is because of growing attendant rush everywhere.  The attendants crowd the outdoors, corridors, passages and terraces and even wards and labs. The consequent air and noise pollution becomes a source of inconvenience for the doctors,  staff and the patients equally. My point is that the hospitals are not made to work in accordance with the health care norms vis-a-vis the culture of safety and the accountability. The menace of spurious medicines is growing  by the day and the agencies involved in this trade are posing serious threats to the life of the people.
Other problems discussed by Dr. Fiaz Fazili relating to hospital administration and apathy of doctors towards patients, non availability of machines etc. cannot be ruled out. This creates all the more the need to make the medical profession  really a noble mission to serve people. It is time doctors make a renewed commitment to their profession.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 19 Jul 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 19 Jul 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 20 Jul 2011 00:00:00 IST