KOCHI: The Kerala Government Medical Officers' Association (KGMOA) says the police's booking of doctors following the death of infants in the SAT hospital contravened a 2005 direction by the Supreme Court.

The apex court has, according to Dr.Sunny P. Orathel, president of the KGMOA, laid down that before arresting or booking a doctor for unintentional culpable homicide, an experts' team should investigate the issue.

The committee should include, in the case of a State-level institution, a senior police officer, a subject expert and the director of medical education.

Only if the committee finds fault with the doctor and establishes that his/her negligence had caused the death can the police register a case of culpable homicide against the doctor concerned, Dr. Orathel told The Hindu .

Notification

He also pointed out that a 1988 notification by the State Government, issued in the wake of the Dr. Kannan-Dr. Koshy incident, stipulated that a committee comprising the District Superintendent of Police, the District Medical Officer and a district-level subject expert should investigate deaths in hospitals allegedly caused by negligence by doctors before arresting or registering cases against them.

`Counter-productive'

Dr. Orathel contended that the belittling of Government hospital and sensationalising the issue by the media would be counterproductive as people would lose their trust in Government hospitals, which were the last resort for millions people.

He noted that despite the lacunae at these hospitals, poor people still trusted and valued the services offered by them.

Exaggerated criticism

Unfair and exaggerated criticism of these hospitals would lead them to the same fate as the Government schools (which had been harshly criticised for their perceived poor standards and unfairly compared with private English-medium schools).

Dr. Orathel suggested that, as a first step to check hospital-induced infection, entry of visitors to hospital wards be strictly regulated.

He noted that it was quite common at Government hospitals that people would gatecrash into sensitive areas such as ICUs and operation theatres.

Since issuing entry passes was a source of income for hospital development committees, these committees tended to liberally issue passes, resulting in free movement of hundreds of people in each part of hospitals, including ICUs and operating theatres.

In the long run, a serious restructuring of the health services in the State would be the only solution to the current problems facing Government hospitals, Dr. Orathel said.

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