KARACHI: Senior health professionals representing the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) on Monday highlighted “the grave violations of the Sindh Healthcare Commission (SHcC) Act 2013 being committed by the government”, including the recent one of the registration of an FIR against a team of doctors associated with Liaquat National Hospital (LNH) without investigation required to be carried out by the commission under the law.
Sharing details of the incident, PMA’s Dr Mirza Ali Azhar recalled that a patient was recently discharged from the LNH after treatment.
“A few days later, the patient, a close relative of someone in the judiciary, was readmitted with some other complaints. Unfortunately, he died and soon after that all the doctors including a foreign qualified senior surgeon, who had been involved in the patient’s treatment, were booked,” Dr Azhar regretted, adding that now healthcare providers were running from pillar to post to get justice.
Citing clauses of the SHcC Act 2013, he said that no FIR could be registered against any healthcare worker/doctor unless the commission proved that the case in question was of medical negligence.