Today we talk about one of the crucial subjects for ordinary people. Rich and powerful people do not need to worry about this issue because they seek medical treatment from modern foreign hospitals such as Mount Elizabeth. But this issue matters to all ordinary people in Sri Lanka. Unfortunately, Health Ministers are helpless in this case. Only one task is left for them. That is paying compensation! We talk about medical negligence.
Medical negligence is not something new to Sri Lanka, but no collective protest was staged against this because incidents take place in isolation. Therefore, people forget one incident by the time another incident is reported by the media. The latest such incident is related to the death of three-year old boy Hamdhi Fusleem. The boy died after the doctor who performed the surgery removed the good kidney along with the bad kidney of the child.
Last week, the media reported how one kilogramme of gauze was put into the stomach of a female patient due to pure medical negligence and put in stitches after performing cesarean surgery in one of the state hospitals in the Northern Province. Fortunately, the patient’s life was saved by performing another surgery and removing one kilogramme of gauze after days of suffering from pain and discomfort.
A few months ago, one base hospital located in the Kalutara District performed surgery on a patient and he was brought to the ward. There was another similar patient of the same age and sex who underwent the same surgery in the next bed. Sometime later the health staff rushed and took that patient to the ICU. It was the other patient who was in critical condition, but he was aware of what was happening around him. When the head doctor arrived after one or two days, he shouted at the entire staff. Somehow the patient who did not receive ICU care survived to tell the story. After coming home, he inquired about the incident he faced from a friend who works at the same ward. He had told him that the hospital staff had taken the wrong patient to the ICU by mistake, and it was he who actually required the ICU care.
A few years ago, the wrong hand of a female law student was amputated in Matara Hospital due to pure medical negligence, but no culprits were found for the crime. The clean report on the investigation contained only the recommendations in connection with preventing similar incidents in future. The ‘clean report’ was presented to the then Health Minister in 2013. That was the end of the story and the girl, and her family are paying the price until they die.
Here in Sri Lanka, an uncountable number of wrong legs and hands had been amputated and an uncountable number of wrong injections and the wrong quantity of the right injections had been given to the innocent patients. Many had died and many had survived with permanent disabilities.
Sri Lanka is very popular for medical negligence and unfortunately, still, it is the culprits who conduct all inquiries on all incidents of medical negligence. If anyone who has an iota of bran can understand very well that doctors never put doctors in trouble, and they help each other. Therefore, there is no point in handing over investigations against doctors to doctors. There should be at least a few other professionals outside the health sector in the team of investigators.
Whenever the media gives publicity to the incidents of medical negligence, the top officials in the health sector do a fantastic thing. That is pointing out the millions of patients that had been fully cured at state hospitals and sent home annually! This is how they ignore and hide grave incidents of medical negligence.
Making it compulsory for all health staff members, especially doctors and nurses to answer all the questions posed to them by patients and their guardians is one step that can be taken in order to minimise medical negligence.
In September last year (2022) a historical judgment was given by the Sri Lankan judiciary. The Colombo District Court ordered the Government to pay a compensation of Rs 30 million to a disabled child, stating that her mother had given birth to her as a disabled child at the Gampaha District Hospital due to the negligence of the doctors and staff of the hospital. This shows that the law can do justice for the victims of medical negligence although doctors save their colleagues.
Last May (just two months ago) an employee of a state hospital located in the Colombo District purposely stopped oxygen supply to 26 patients in critical condition including 10 infants who were in critical condition due to the act of this employee. Police investigations found this 29-year-old employee who stopped the oxygen supply by secretly creeping into the room where oxygen cylinders were stored and disconnecting the supply.
It is not medical negligence. It is not a mistake. It is not any other type of error. A new word should be found to name criminal acts like this that take place in the Sri Lankan health sector!
