Medical faculty association (MFA) of Government Medical College (GMC) Srinagar has expressed dismay over holding one doctor responsible for the death of a new born whose mother was refused admission at Lal Ded (LD) Hospital here. It also demanded addressing staff shortage at the LD Hospital.
On Monday, the executive body of MFA met “to discuss the ugly chain of events that invited anger of all sections of the society”. MFA expressed sympathies with the family from Moorie area of Kupwara that suffered the loss of a baby when Surraya Begum was sent back from Lal Ded Hospital, where she had been referred to from Kupwara.
A statement issued by MFA said that episode in Lal Ded hospital needed to be analysed with an “unbiased and pragmatic mindset”. The association hoped that a logical and holistic view of the matter would be taken rather than “demonizing the resident doctor on duty who may encounter difficult clinical situations where her judgment may falter leading to such misadventures”.
The statement said that “clinical misjudgment was known in medical science and in “no way connoted medical negligence”. It said medical practice all over the world is governed by evidence -based standard protocols.
MFA hoped that broader committee constituted by principal of GMC Srinagar on 21 Jan will” highlight the deficiency of the faculty and residents at LD hospital in relation to the work load and existing bed strength. MFA hoped that the enquiry committee “shall provide an opportunity to the resident doctor on duty to explain her position viz not following SOPs and ensure that she is not victimized”.
Recalling the contribution of GMC and doctors of other health institutions, MFA said, “medical fraternity of the valley has always stood the test of time braving all odds and hardships at the cost of their own family and children especially in the last 30 years of turmoil”.
“Government and public needs to realise that this incident is a result of inadequate facilities in peripheral health system and precipitate labour cannot be foreseen. Thus fixing responsibility on one person is not justified,” the statement said.