Assam: Doctor fined for negligence causing death

GUWAHATI: Assam Human Rights Commission (AHRC) on Wednesday found a medical officer of the Ambari Urban Health Centre guilty of medical negligence leading to the death of a female patient and ordered him to pay a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the deceased's family.
Pinky Das's husband, Kamal, filed a complaint with AHRC in October, 2017 alleging that his wife had died after Ghanashyam Thakuria wrongly administered injections and saline to her.
Subsequently, the commission had called for an inquiry report from the director of health and family welfare.
"On examination of the report and documents accompanying with the statements of the persons and the comment of the complainant, it was found that the deceased had backache, mild fever, lower abdominal pain and burning sensation. At the time of her examination, she had normal blood pressure, normal pulse but felt tenderness over her lower abdomen and tenderness over on both sides of her back kidney region, which were diagnosed as a urinary infection. The accused doctor had prescribed injections and drips after administering of which the patient developed complications. The patient was referred to the Mahendra Mohan Choudhury Hospital (MMCH) here. But she died before getting any treatment," said the AHRC in an official communique to media on Wednesday.
The commission was surprised as to how a patient who was admitted for back pain died after the prescribed drugs given to her.
The AHRC added, "In the absence of a proper explanation by the charged officer, the commission had no other alternative but to hold the charged officer, Thakuria, guilty of medical negligence which resulted in the death of Pinky Das. The AHRC recommended the compensation amount be paid by Thakuria within two months from the date of receipt of this order."
The commission added that since the medical officer is a government employee, the state government can also pay the said amount on his behalf and may recover the same from his salary by instalment or otherwise.