COMMENT on article as reported by TOI (not known to be great with reporting from Goa). I know the risk of making a comment based upon a TOI article.
a: One can understand the family being distraught. b: But why is Auda Viegas making a Bhel Puri out of this case? c: While one knows that 'moonlighting' is going on despite the the receipt of non-practicing allowance, what is the thrust of the primary statement: that a GMC doctor, if called to assist in an emergency .... must either operate for free OR refuse to operate? d: Is it being suggested that if an acute appendicitis is being strongly suspected, the surgeons must wait for "tests" before deciding to operate? or that one has to wait for consent in a critically ill patient? e: Perhaps, Auda Viegas will advise how she concluded that the patient died because of the doctor's negligence? f: I'd suggest that IF medical negligence is proved, it is the private hospital which employed the doctor's services .....which may have deeper pockets. g: Isn't it a tragedy that the once clean and decent GMC group of hospitals is no longer the choice of patients? h: Mr. Rane, .....what can one honestly say about the Health Ministry you head? jc ==== Raveena's family seeks help from NGO http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/Raveenas-family-seeks-help-from-NGO/articleshow/6246244.cms PANAJI: The family of Raveena Rodrigues, a 16-year-old girl who died in Goa Medical College and hospital on July 29, a fortnight after she was admitted in a private hospital, has sought the help of an NGO to help them in the case. They also alleged that the GMC doctor who operated on her in the private hospital had charged money for the operation. "The family has told me that the operation was not conducted on an emergency basis and it was not on humanitarian grounds that the doctor from GMC agreed to operate on the minor," alleged Bailancho Ekvott president Auda Viegas. Viegas said that the girl's family has contacted her and sought her help in the case. "It is a genuine case wherein a minor has lost life due to the doctor's negligence. The family has bills stating that they have paid Rs 11,900 towards the cost of operation and stay at the private hospital. Of the Rs 11,900, almost Rs 4,400 has been charged by the doctor from the GMC and Rs 1,800 by another doctor. The rest of the amount is towards the cost of the stay in the hospital," alleged Auda. "Are doctors receiving non-practising-allowance permitted to conduct operations with or without the permission of GMC in emergencies? A thorough probe into the medical callousness and negligence needs to be conducted and those responsible for the death of the innocent girl be given exemplary punishment," she demanded. Health minister Vishwajeet Rane had on Saturday issued an order to suspend the doctor. However, he later kept the order in abeyance, pending inquiry. "Action definitely will be taken in the case. But before taking action, one must verify all the aspects of the case," said Rane. Viegas said that the family has informed her that Raveena was admitted to the private nursing home at Vaddem in Vasco on July 2 evening and thereupon without tests subjected to appendectomy operation. "The doctor operated upon her and she was discharged on July 5, despite her condition not having stabilized," alleged Auda. However, she was brought to GMC on July 10 with severe abdominal pain and admitted in the surgery ward. An ultra sound on the minor revealed free fluid in the peritoneal cavity. Due to this, the patient had to be immediately operated to evacuate the clot. But by July 14, she developed breathlessness and had to be shifted to ICU where she developed acute respiratory distress system. She later developed septicaemia and died on July 29. "The family informed me that no consent was obtained from them to carry out the second surgery nor were the reasons for the second operation explained to them. I am told that though her condition was critical in GMC, the operation was performed by junior doctors," added Auda. * * * In every way, the Goans of Bombay were part of the great melee that was this metropolis, distinct perhaps in the way communities often are, holding on to their own traditions but merging slowly nonetheless and forming the thin thread of nationhood that would eventually become India. -- Selma Carvalho, in *Into the Goan Diaspora Wilderness*. Available at Broadways Book Centre, Panjim [Ph +91-9822488564] Price (in Goa only) Rs 295. http://selmacarvalho.squarespace.com/ * * *