Suspended Jalandhar hospital doctor questions fairness of govt probe

Dr Sunakshi, a consultant anaesthetist at the Civil Hospital, Jalandhar, who has been suspended over three deaths in the hospital, has written to the president of the PCMS Association, Jalandhar, raising concerns on the "fairness and thoroughness of the inquiry process", conducted by the Health Department, also stating that she had been "unfairly targeted and made a scapegoat".

Related news: ‘Probe into Jalandhar hospital deaths not over yet, more heads to roll’: Health Minister

Her letter and claims come in the wake of the state Health Minister’s declaration on Wednesday regarding the suspension of Jalandhar Civil Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Raj Kumar, SMO Dr Surjit Singh and Dr Sunakshi and dismissal of House Surgeon Dr Shivinder Singh.

The suspended doctor, who is an expectant mother, has claimed that "The probe was an immediate leap to disciplinary action without a complete and transparent investigation into all contributing factors, including potential systemic failures, infrastructural limitations and the true chain of events”.

In response to her allegations, Health Minister Dr Balbir Singh said he was open to the presence of a PCMS member on the investigating panel and said the enquiry would be fair.

Meanwhile, the issue has now turned into a standoff with the PCMS association announcing to launch a separate probe into the Civil Hospital deaths. A five-member probe committee will come to the Civil Hospital to launch an investigation on Friday.

The suspended doctor’s letter primarily flags the systemic failure rather than doctors responsible for lapses like lack of oxygen and warning systems.

With the formal probe report yet to be made public, her letter is the only first-hand account from a doctor present at the hospital on the fateful day to appear in the public domain so far.

The letter states that she tried her level best to ensure the survival of two patients while being completely blindsided by the abrupt cessation of oxygen supply to all five patients on ventilator support without any prior alarm or warning systems that were supposed to go off.

It further presses for a comprehensive review of the hospital's infrastructure, oxygen supply systems and emergency protocols. This tragedy highlights a critical need to identify and rectify any underlying systemic issues that may have contributed to the tragedy and prevent the scapegoating of doctors when broader institutional or systemic deficiencies might be the root cause. The severe outcome of this incident was tragically compounded by the unavailability of immediate and reliable backup oxygen systems.”

Her letter also raises some critical long-standing issue of the unavailability of a dedicated room for the anaesthetist within the TICU/ICU with adequate CCTV coverage for safety of female consultants as per latest guidelines.

The doctor appealed to the PCMS association, to intervene immediately to ensure a fair, impartial and exhaustive enquiry into the incident.

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Minister assurance to docs

The Health Minster Dr Balbir Singh said, “A sympathetic hearing will be given to anyone who feels they’ve been punished. The enquiry will be fair to all. We are also open to having a representative from the PCMS (on panel).”

Won't allow anyone to target docs

Dr. Baljinder Singh, Jalandhar president of the PCMS Association, said, “The association won’t allow scapegoating of a doctor. We are launching our separate probe, to be conducted by a five-member team, including state PCMSA president Dr Akhil Sareen, state working secretary Dr Simranjit Singh Dhaliwal and 3 more members, at Civil Hospital, Jalandhar. We welcome the minister’s offer of inclusion of PCMS doctors on the probe panel. But if any doctor is found to be made a scapegoat, we may possibly also take to the protest.”