Faridkot hospital staff took 3 hours to start treatment of Abohar professor, finds inquiry
The inquiry report notes that if immediate treatment would have been given to Kamboj, after making the file under emergency file management, the outcome could have been different
Faridkot A probe into the death of an Abohar associate professor, Parwinder Singh Kamboj, 46, at Guru Gobind Singh Medical College and Hospital (GGSMCH) in Faridkot on July 23 has found that medical staff were negligent and there was a delay of three hours in starting treatment.
Kamboj had been admitted to the isolation ward of the hospital as a suspected covid-19 patient, but his samples tested negative a day after death. His wife Neeta Pandhu Kamboj had alleged negligence.
Faridkot regional transport authority (RTA) secretary Paramdeep Singh Khaira conducted the investigation and has submitted an 84-page report to deputy commissioner Vimal Kumar Setia.
“It has been found that despite Abohar civil hospital doctors referring Kamboj when his blood oxygen saturation was 88%, which is considered low, he was not put on oxygen support. Medical staff on duty wasted three hours, demanding the patient’s file and a covid test report. They also misbehaved with family members,” the report says.
It adds, “If immediate treatment would have been given to Kamboj, after making the file under emergency file management, the outcome could have been different. The patient was not handled properly in the emergency. CCTV footage shows Kamboj reaching the hospital at 5.52pm, but the first entry of the treatment has been recorded at 8.45pm in his file. This shows how poor the GGSMCH was handling the patient.”
He added that there is shortage of staff and medicines at GGSMCH, which has been confirmed by statements of medical staff. “Another 45-year-old covid patient was killed after falling into a shaft meant for drainage and water pipes in a new building of the hospital. Authorities should have done a proper safety survey. The incident shows that there is shortage of ward attendants as well, as the patient went to bathroom on his own,” he added.
‘Cleanliness not maintained’
“Cleanliness has not been maintained. Even the light in the room in which Kamboj was kept was not working. The medical staff has admitted to this. The lack of cleanliness in covid-19 wards and poor arrangement for biomedical waste disposal shows irresponsible GGSMCH authorities have been,” Khaira adds.
Khaira also noted that the GGMCH’s then medical superintendent Dr Rajiv Joshi and then principal Dr Deepak John Bhatti neglected their duties. However, Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS), under whose command the hospital operates, shunted them out last month.
In the report, Khaira recommends that junior doctors, assigned duties in covid wards, should take psychiatric training to improve their behaviour towards patients and their families. “Serious patients should be provided immediate treatment without demanding any file and a special cell for covid should be formed,” he added.