Srinagar: The High Court of J&K and Ladakh has ordered treating as PIL a petition by a father who lost his young biochemist daughter while undergoing surgery in Mohammadia Nursing Home, a private “unregistered” hospital in Pulwama, in September last year.
The petitioner father, Arshid Hussain Bhat, had in the public interest sought directions from the High Court commanding the Jammu and Kashmir government “to audit all the private hospitals of the Union Territory in light of the Jammu and Kashmir Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulations Act) 2010”.
The petition prayed “for verifying as to whether the same are registered, having requisite health-care support/machinery and permit only the qualified and competent doctors to practice in the said hospitals”.
Bhat’s daughter, Saboora Arshid, a resident of Arihal village Pulwama, had done M.Sc. Biochemistry and was scheduled to pursue her Ph D in the Punjab University. On September 14, 2024, she was admitted in the Mohammadia Nursing Home Pulwama for her surgery. She was suffering from nasal blockage with epistaxis.
She developed severe complications during her post-operative care in the said hospital whereafter she was taken to the SMHS Hospital in critical condition “after a considerable delay on account of non-availability of the critical-care ambulance”.
She was declared dead at SMHS Hospital upon being admitted in its Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
The petitioner father, through his lawyers, Parvaiz Ahmed and Lone Altaf, alleges gross medical negligence on part of the hospital authorities as well as the team of the doctors who operated upon Saboora.
After much public outcry, the government had ordered an enquiry into the grievous incident.
The enquiry report conducted by the Directorate of the Health Services, Kashmir, referred to some sort of carelessness and lapses on part of the concerned hospital — Mohammadia Nursing Home — authorities as well as the doctors attending the patient during the post-operative care.
The District Magistrate, Pulwama, had also ordered a magisterial enquiry into the incident.
The enquiry committee constituted by the Directorate of Health Services, observed that the doctor, preferably an anesthesiologist, should have accompanied the patient in ambulance as the patient was in critical state.
It is alleged in the petition “the concerned nursing home did not have its own critical-care ambulance which delayed the shifting of the deceased to the SMHS Hospital, Srinagar”.
The enquiry committee of the Directorate of Health Services, Kashmir, has deferred ascertaining the cause of death till the receipt and perusal of the autopsy report which is still awaited.
Hearing the petition, Justice Mohammad Yousuf Wani held that the court cannot 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.
He however remarked “in the present times of mercenary approach, the noblest profession of doctors has got polluted. 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. The noble profession is presently being practiced as a commercial job. The doctors ought to keep in mind that they are entrusted with the most valuable and precious belonging i.e. the life itself”.
The judge noted, “the private hospital in question was not even registered at the time when the surgery of the deceased was conducted”.
He held that the competent authority has to ensure whether all the advanced and required medical equipment/machinery is in place in the hospital seeking extension in its registration. “The critical-care ambulances are not still available in most of the private hospitals/nursing homes,” said Justice Wani.
He called for the practice of random referrals of patients from the District and Sub District Hospitals to be looked into by the authorities.
