MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE AND ACCOUNTABILITY OF HEALHCARE PROVIDERS

Countless patients have lost their lives due to medical negligence in India. Many have been disabled. Numerous families have lost the precious lives of their loved ones in Indian hospitals. Medical negligence occurs in all countries. But in India the extent of negligence by hospitals and medical practitioners is enormous. Enforcement of accountability by the Indian Medical Association and Medical Council of India has been feeble. Accountability by the judiciary is time-consuming, but it is the only effective way of making the healthcare providers answerable to the affected relatives and society.

 

October 25 is a RED letter day in the healthcare history of India when the Supreme Court ordered Kolkata's AMRI hospital and three doctors to pay a cumulative compensation of 11.41 crores INR (including interest) to Dr.Kunal Shah, a US-based doctor of Indian origin, whose 29 year old wife Anuradha Shah, a child psychologist, died due to medical negligence in 1998. They came to Kolkata to spend their holiday in their home. But unexpectedly she was admitted to AMRI hospital for treatment of skin rashes. And she breathed her last in the hospital. The relentless struggle of her husband came to a happy ending yesterday, though his loss is irreparable, when the Supreme Court pronounced this historic judgement. It is the highest ever compensation awarded in a case of medical negligence in India. It is also a victory for millions of people who expect medical care with real concern to the patients. The Supreme Court observed that the judgement would be a deterrent to doctors, hospitals, and nursing homes to discharge their responsibility seriously.

 

Some years ago, V. CHANDRASEKHAR, India's national Table Tennis champion, was admitted to the much-touted Apollo Hospital for a minor procedure. But the procedure ended the brilliant sport career of Chandra when he came out of the surgery as a paralysed person. The hospital fought to justify its "innocence", but the Supreme Court in 1995 ordered the hospital to pay a compensation of 19 lakhs INR.

 

Recently India's most prestigious All Institute of Medical Sciences has been in the news for wrong reasons. Doctors make diagnosis and treat patients based on blood test reports prepared in the laboratory. But who does this crucial work? Untrained lab attendants. Qualified lab technicians are found sleeping entrusting the work to lab attendants. Unsuspecting patients and their families are cheated. If this is the state of affairs in AIIMS, what happens in other hospitals can be imagined with utter helplessness.

GODS AND GODDESSES: BRAND INDIA

Swami Vivekananda, the architect of Indian renaissance, was a common man . Similarly Swami Chinmayananda, the founder of Chinmaya Mission, was a seer of eminence. In recent times Sri Sri Ravishankar, the globally respected creator of the highly effective Art of Living, never claims that he is a guru ( teacher).J. Krishnamoorthy, the great philosopher and educator, whose speeches mesmerised millions refused to be a guru.

 

In contrast to these great Indians, there are many Godmen and Godwomen, who parade as Gods and Goddesses with Indian spiritual brand. Their evolution is in stages. First the claim of a divine vision: in psychological terms an imagination or hallucination. The news gets wide circulation and the supporters discover miracles from the person: healing or creation of some article from nowhere.

 

Interested media popularise the vision and miracle. Devotees flow and the place of residence becomes an ashram or mutt. A GOD OR GODDESS IS BORN. Devotees from far and near throng round the clock and long queues for a sight, touch, or hug become a routine. International devotees converge from different parts of the globe. High security cover from the police follows. Ashrams spring up in different countries. The God or Goddess starts making regular global spiritual tours to bless men, women and children there. High profile marketing strategies project the image of the person in larger than life terms. Liberal donations, gifts and offerings in gold pour in from the rich, the corrupt, the taxevader, the guilty ,the sinner as well as from the gullible and global devotees for hospitals, educational institutions, and community service. Daily prayers and poojas as in temples crown the godman or godwoman as GOD OR GODDESS. The evolution is complete.