Marina hires Dr death?

GREG KELEBONYE
Staff Writer | Monday March 15, 2010 00:00

 

Shuvra, a Bangladesh national was hired as a specialist gynecologist in January this year together with her husband who has been engaged by the Hospital as a consultant pediatrician.  An assessment report authored by Shuvra's supervisor suggests that Shuvra seems clueless about what she is supposed to do, and that whenever she touches an implement could mean a death sentence for a patient. So dangerously out of cue is this doctor that the very first caesarean section she carried out resulted in the death of the baby, says the report. The mother also lost her womb after Shuvra reportedly mutilated it.

'I and other team members have oriented her about the duties for two weeks after which she was [placed] on call with another first on call doctor on 11/02/2010. The caesarean section she did was a disaster with death of the baby, multiple uterine tears, which led to DIC and sub-total hysterectomy was done [by another doctor].' The Monitor is in possession of the names of the team that was with Shuvra on that fateful day.

The report goes on:  'After the incident we decided to [place] her on call with an experienced medical officer. On 24/02/2010 she called second on call to remove retained placenta, which was removed by a junior medical officer manually without any difficulty. In the labour ward it has been noticed by the midwives that she doesn't know how to do vaginal examination and cannot make any judgment as well.'

The report goes on to say that other doctors have also noticed that she cannot do Dilation and Curettage (D&C), a procedure performed under anesthesia during which the cervix is opened more (or dilated) and tissue lining the uterus is scraped out with a metal, spoon-shaped instrument or a suction tube. The procedure can be used to diagnose a problem or to remove growths (polyps). The report goes on to say that even when other doctors took over her botched work, she would just stand there, not knowing what to do.

'She doesn't even know what to ask the patient. She could not make incision and didn't know how to assist [during] CS'

The report says that Dr Shuvra also 'cut rectus muscles transverse' when she should have done it the other way round, while operating on a patient. Another doctor intervened and saved the situation. The report says that very recently Dr Shuvra had to deal with a 38-week breech and had no inkling what she was supposed to do.

'She put vertical incision with great difficulty. She didn't know how to deliver the breech. She put her hand in and pulled out the cords and hand.' The report goes on to say that Dr Shuvra struggled until another doctor came to her rescue and that of mother and baby. Moreover, Dr Shuvra could not identify the omentum, a sheet of fatty tissue that hangs down in front of the intestines, providing a protective cushion. She is reported to have thought the omentum was some internal scar tissue, fibrous bands that form between tissues and organs, usually as a result of injury during surgery - more commonly called adhesions.

The report concludes: ' After the above cases all the theatre staff doubt her credibility as a doctor [and] on assessing her I don't know if she is a doctor.

However Dr Shuvra trashed suggestions that she is a bogus doctor.

' I have been working for Apollo hospital in Dhaka before coming here. I worked there for three years as a Registered Doctor, what you call here a consultant. Before that I worked for the government,' she said.  A call to the hospital and a request to speak with Dr Shuvra returned a 'she is no longer with this hospital' and 'sorry sir I can't assist'.

Apollo Hospital Dhaka is a multi-disciplinary super-specialty tertiary care hospital in Bangladesh.

Shuvra's husband who identified himself as Dr. Gotham and said that he was working for Princess Marina Hospital as a consultant paediatrician, described his wife of five years as a qualified obstetrician/gynecologist.

'There is no doubt that she is a qualified obstetrician/gynecologist. Accidents happen in medicine, but you are talking about someone who has successfully performed 12 caesarean sections in the short-time that she has been working for the hospital,' he said and wondered why his wife would only fail when in Botswana, when she has not failed all along.

Princess Marina Hospital superintendent, Chiapo Lesetedi, said that he was yet to receive the report from the supervising doctor at the obstetrics/gynecology department.

'If it turns out the allegations are true, and having discussed with the concerned doctor and her supervisor, I will know what route to take,' he said. That may include asking the Ministry of Health, which is the employer, to terminate the services of the doctor from the hospital.

Expatriate doctors are interviewed by the Ministry of Health, usually in their countries of residence before being offered a job. Once in Botswana a body that coordinates activities of doctors and monitors quality, The Medical Professionals Council subjects the doctors to a further test before certifying them. Recently it was reported in the media that the Council refused to certify some specialist doctors who were hired by the new Bokamoso Private Hospital, who it found lacking, although the hospital refuted the claims.