The probe into the rising medical negligence complaints in the city has hit a roadblock, a year after the constitution of a specialized board. This is because the post of principal medical officer in Civil hospital — secretary to medical negligence board — has been lying vacant for a month now, while a member is on leave, say officials.

In the past one year, the district medical negligence board has received some 72 complaints. Though it has disposed of 60 complaints till May, 12 have been pending since the last one month.

The pending complaints include grievances like overcharging and wrongful procedures against some leading private hospitals in the city, say officials.

Though a senior district doctor has been given the Civil hospital principal medical officer’s charge temporarily, but the negligence probes have been put on hold, according to officials. “Another doctor, who is on the board, is on long leave on health grounds”, said a health official on condition of anonymity.

Moreover, according to senior doctors in the health department, medical negligence board probes often suffer because of lack of specialists in the district. The district medical negligence board comprises of district civil surgeon as chairperson, principal medical officer or medical superintendent of district hospital as member-secretary, a district-level member of Indian Medical Association (IMA), and two specialists of the concerned stream of medicines. TOI had previously reported that considering the shortage of specialist doctors in Gurugram, many doctors are called in from other districts or even from private hospitals to be part of the medical negligence board in few cases.

However, when contacted, Dr. Brahmdeep Sandhu, the acting principal medical officer said, “The negligence cases have piled up and we will start probing these cases from Monday. These cases have been pending as the principal medical officer had been transferred and another member of the board had gone on a long leave.”

The civil surgeon, however, denied that the board has not assembled for a month, saying that “it met two times”. The board either used to meet at least two times a week, and there was a proposal to convene the board five times a week, considering a rise in the number of medical negligence cases.

In May this year, a number of people who had lost their loved ones due to alleged medical negligence in hospitals of Gurugram, organized themselves into a body called Campaign for Dignified and Affordable Healthcare, and wrote to Haryana health minister Anil Vij and Union health minister JP Nadda, asking them to institute clear procedures and norms for the investigation of patient complaints.

Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/gurgaon/no-secretary-one-month-on-complaints-pile-up-at-medical-negligence-board/articleshow/64819890.cms