Medical Malpractice is a silent killer

I recently had the opportunity of meeting Aqeel the father of Imanae who recently succumbed to death due to dire malpractice at the Doctors Hospital. His entire family is on a rampage against the institution and the very principles of immoral medical conduct. Being a victim of this nemesis myself, I realized the pain and anguish that this family was going through. The detrimental difference between the death of Imanae and the hundreds and thousands of others who have died because of mismanagement and malpractice is that the family took the stand against this evil. No one has been able to successfully launch a campaign against the Doctors, hospitals, nurses and especially the institutional management. Times are now changing. A family has finally stood up against the prosperous and indigenous management would have been extremely successful in constructing more stories at the cost of deceiving millions from all people alike.
It is a known fact that the healthcare industry and the quality of Medicare is directed proportional to the economic and social well-being of that nation. Nations that have placed their future in ensuring lives have given birth to new technologies. Technologies that speed up diagnosis and eliminates or at least drastically reduces the human error. The greatest battle lies within the realm of diagnosis. The objective of life and death revolves around the basic understanding of what the doctor perceives at that given time. Human atrophy is caused by the wrong perception and understanding of Doctors all across the world. The only difference is that in Pakistan there is no checking balance. There is no institution that governs the moral and social obligations that Doctors have to this nation and its people. And if there is such a thing as an institution than it is not executing and monitoring its domain. A dead dog is simply of no use to its master. And this is a very similar scenario of Pakistan's medical industry.
“I pledge to shut down the institution that has given my daughter that was caused because of simple negligence” speaks out Aqeel. His voice completely shattered by the turmoil that he is gone through over the last 10 days. He has lost his only daughter to the hands of one of the most corrupt and unchecked institutions of this land.
“We have spoken to the chief minister and believe that case will be immediately taken up” speaks the grandfather of the three-year-old that died tragically in the hands of her father. The father has recently started a major and massive campaign against Doctors hospital. He is also set up a portal http://www.imanae.co.uk/ so that the world can realize and feel the pulsation of a dying heart. One cannot even start imagining how one can even out live an incident like this. How can you be prepared to bury your only angel because some nurse gave the wrong injections? Where else in the world to children as adorable as this one die? Where else in the world do quacks practice so openly? Where else in the world does medicine have so many different types of quality? Where else in the world do you see millions of people silent as they bury their loved ones?
My father also died because of malpractice in this country. He was a professor. Many of the current political brass and bureaucracy prowess have been taught by him. I will always have impressible memories of my father. He was one of the few foreign teachers that decided to come back and serve this nation. And yet, he died because doctors at Punjab Cardiology gave him the wrong injection.
These are just not numbers. These are dreams, ambitions, and hopes that have died and have been buried deep within our own lives. These are faces that we will always be in search of. These are hands and smiles we will be forever in need of. These are loved one that we will cherish till our own last breath.
People tend to forgive god as one buries ones loved ones. This is the plagiarizing defeat of life. One has to come to terms with it. But without reason and rhyme, this is insanity. Hundreds of people die in the medical hospitals today, no doctor or staff has been reprimanded. Nothing has come to date. I admire Aqeel and his bravery. He has given meaning to the long journey that no one was ready to take on. With such dilemma against one, one takes to a simpler and calmer road.
Today, many are with Aqeel. I guess many are with him because they are fighting their own battle. They are in search of peace with their own souls and the injustice that took place. Justice is blind. But so is malpractice.

Read more...

How Cheap have the politicans sold Pakistan?

Our colleges and universities are being guarded by covert military operations. Our libraries and dormitories are no longer safe. We have buried our fathers and elders as they stand waiting anxiously for their paychecks. Our sisters and mothers have been scattered amongst the rubble as they were shopping with smiles embarked upon their petal lips. Our children have been shot at during regular school hours. This is insanity speaking in the true and vibrant colors of life. I can no longer remain silent. Words have to stem out of the silence to create a gesture of expression. I cannot withstand another day of innocent lives being sent to heaven and the crimes are still unknown.
If this was America, the entire nation would have stampeded into the senate demanding in writing a report deciphering the faults of the government and reasons of failure to host secure and prosperous measures. The American communities will be questioning each and every government official related to homeland security about the measures and action items. And in our part of the world, our federal minister for interior is pebbled with shoes and stones as he tries to enter the Islamic University after two consecutive bombs killed 6 innocent lives. Still he remains the unique ideology of governance.
Within the domain of Pakistan foreign planes bombard our own cities and the media keeps no trail of the accusations and the assaults. To the people, the dead bodies are only numbers. Participants who had to brutally die as they are negotiating with the west against the war on terror. Have the think tanks of Americans forgotten that the true enemies might not be the militant assailants of the north western frontiers but the clever and benign politicians who have sold the country at a dirt cheap price?
Where did this all begin? Who allowed selling the nation at such a price? I have buried my family due to the war on terror alone. My father has died of malpractice and my mom has faced road accidents due to people not caring of the traffic lights. Is this the social and moral fabric that Quaid left behind? We require answers now. Our generations will not sleep to the whispers of the night. Our generation will speak till our blood is spilled in the streets. My heart will amalgamate with the screams of the innocent lives that are left unburied. I am ready to die with the song of freedom in my soul. That cannot be killed with a cheap bullet. You cannot sell my aspirations for they are not for sale. Let us ring the bells of faith. Let us all unite.
Problem is that we have no outlet. The political system is so corrupt that honest liberations can not follow pursuit. The sun rays are trying their level best to succeed into the prism of darkness. But the political clout is placing their hands on every single nook and corner of the room. Sun rays are being diverted and left to remain outside the prism of life. And within these walls, I am trapped. You are trapped. And our senators, advisors, and the political system keeps on breathing poverty, terror and fear in our minds and souls.
Interestingly, no provincial government is taking precautions measures to streamline and improve the deplorable situation. Even the so called hero of Punjab sits ideally as the massacres in Punjab take place. All I read in the newspapers is transfers of the social political bureaucracy. I do not see legitimate and conducive action plans in full force. The same police officers at the road barricades are sipping tea and the dormant traffic wardens never trail down the ambushed calls pleading for assistance. The police force still has the same recruitment being fired at time and time again. No snipers within the college domains and no policy making of the nazims to garner people into building secure environments to fight crime. Is this the magnanimous work of the PML –N? We might have expected more from an educated governor and a profound and vocal administrator. Their promises mean nothing. I have buried my loved ones. When will they die?
Is this the Pakistan we are to give to our generations? Are we going to remain silent as these walls cave in? Look closely at your face today. This face might not remain on the surface today. Due to the political chaos and mayhem created by our forefathers. Sad is that I do not know who created this mess. Bhutto as he steered us into the complete nemesis or the vibrant colors of the dictatorial governance of Zia Ul HAQ. Instead of disengaging their families from the political systems we have blessed them with ministries and even the presidential chair.

Read more...