High Court treats plea over ‘medical negligence’ as PIL

Srinagar, Mar 2: The High Court of J&K and Ladakh has treated a plea related to death of a girl allegedly due to negligence of doctors following her surgery for nasal blockage at a Nursing Home in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district last year, as Public Interest Litigation (PIL) for monitoring the health care facilities in Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh.

Father of the girl, Arshid Hussain Bhat, had petitioned court in public interest seeking its intervention to direct the government to audit all the private hospitals in Jammu and Kashmir in light of the “Jammu and Kashmir Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulations Act) 2010 for verifying as to whether the same are registered having requisite health care machinery. It also seeks direction to permit only the qualified and competent doctors to practice in these hospitals.Besides, the father sought compensation from the private hospital for medical negligence where his daughter developed medical complications.

A bench of Justice Muhammad Yousuf Wani, while hearing the plea directed the court's registry to place the matter before Chief Justice for “appropriate orders” to treat the matter as PIL. The High Court has now treated the matter as PIL and the same is likely to come up for hearing on Monday.Bhat from Arihal Pulwama village, in his plea filed through advocates Parvaiz Ahmed and Lone Altaf, from Arihal Pulwama submitted that his young daughter who had done M.Sc. Biochemistry and was scheduled to pursue Ph.D Degree died following a surgery for nasal blockage with epistaxis at a Nursing Home in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district last year.  She had reportedly developed severe complications during her post operative care in the Nursing Home and died upon being admitted to the ICU of SMHS hospital in Srinagar after “a considerable delay on account of non-availability of the critical care ambulance”.

In his order, Justice Wani noted that the “Court cannot not lose sight of the fact that even a minor procedure or surgery can have the known medical complications and a layman cannot allege the medical negligence which can only be viewed by a competent team of doctors belonging to the field.” “It is equally true that in the present times of mercenary approach, the most noble profession of doctors has got polluted,” the court said.

Moreover, the court noted that the doctors who are the ambassadors of the God on the earth discharging divine function have been influenced by the elements of greed and rivalry. While the court observed that the noble profession is presently being practiced as a commercial job, it said: “The doctors ought to keep in mind that they are entrusted with the most valuable and precious belonging i.e. the life itself”.  “A patient always approaches and consults a doctor with all trust and confidence who parts with his precious belongings for securing the medical treatment and care.”  The private hospital in question was not even registered at the time when the surgery of the deceased was conducted nevertheless, the proprietor had already applied for the same, the court observed. “Extension of registration especially of a private hospital is not an ordinary thing and to be taken as casual as with the advancement of medical science, the competent authority has to ensure whether all the advanced and required medical equipment and machinery is in place in the hospital seeking extension in its registration”.

The Court said that the doctors whose private practice stands banned and in lieu of which they have been getting handsome allowances are resorting to private practices. “The critical care ambulances are not still available in most of the private hospitals/nursing homes.”