ALKHOBAR, 27 March 2005 — When Indian Shahid Imam Khan of Sanowli, Bihar, came to Madinah he had big dreams. The sole breadwinner of his family, he wanted to convert each of the SR1,300 he made as a bell captain into happiness for his mother, wife and four children aged 2-12.
Little did Shahid imagine that a few years later, on Feb. 16 at age 41, he would become a statistic. His body would lie in limbo, in a morgue, waiting for burial among bureaucratic paper work. All because of an error, allegedly made by an Egyptian surgeon’s scalpel.
Shahid underwent a gallbladder surgery for the removal of gallstones. He went to Al-Dar Hospital in Madinah, which is more like a polyclinic with 22 or 23 beds. Shahid was assured that he would be in and out of the hospital in a short time since removing gallstones is a routine procedure.
On Nov. 20, 2004, the surgery was performed. Within days Shahid’s condition deteriorated. Instead of getting better he was getting worse. He started bleeding from the mouth and complaining of extreme fatigue and pain. The surgeon operated on Shahid three times, and each time his condition took a turn for the worse.
Shahid’s friends and relatives didn’t understand medical procedures, but they could sense something was wrong. Some went to Makkah to pray; others went to Shahid’s employer requesting that he be transferred to King Fahd Hospital.
Al-Dar was not easy to leave. Hospital management assured Shahid’s employer that he was getting the best care and that there was no need for the additional expense of shifting. But by now he was bleeding profusely and was in extremely bad shape.
Shahid was shifted to King Fahd Hospital where surgeons had to do three corrective surgeries in an effort to save his life. But it was too late. Shahid died on Feb. 16.
Sources at King Fahd Hospital, who demanded anonymity, suggested it appears that the surgeon who performed the initial surgeries made some mistakes, and, to correct it, more surgeries were performed that only resulted in more mistakes.
Shahid’s widow has appealed to Dr. Ausaf Sayeed, the consul general of India in Jeddah, to help investigate the matter.
“The doctor cut my brother’s throat,” Manzar Imam, Shahid’s older brother, told Arab News on the phone from Sanowli, Bihar. He says the surgeon should be stopped from making the same mistakes on other patients.
“We have sent a very strong-worded letter to Al-Dar Hospital asking for medical records but they have still not complied,” said S.L. Sagar, Indian consul for community welfare in Jeddah. “I went beyond the call of duty to do this because I can make such requests only in personal capacity. I have also requested the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs to investigate the matter. Unfortunately, the ministry has a long, cumbersome process.
“It will take some time. You can imagine from the fact that the ministry tells us not to send reminders on any case before three months,” Sager said. “I am pushing it and doing my best. If I have all the paperwork, I can get permission to bury him within half an hour. And if the investigations do confirm our suspicion that it’s a case of wrongful death, we should be able to get compensation for the family.”
Al-Dar Hospital, in the meantime, met Shahid’s survivors and tried to convince them that death was ordained by God. Hospital management offered some compensation, but the family turned it down.
However, so far nothing has happened. Shahid’s body awaits burial. His four small children face an uncertain future. Perhaps there is a need to revise cumbersome procedures and make them simpler and quicker. Careless and erring doctors should be prosecuted so that they do not put their patients’ lives in jeopardy.
When Arab News contacted Al-Dar Hospital to get its side of the story, one Dr. Osama spoke on the phone and said the surgeon who performed the original surgery on Shahid encountered a rare complication.
“Remember, the patient did not die in our hospital,” the physician said. “The Ministry of Health has already contacted us, and we are providing all assistance to them.”
