‘Audit necessary to keep track of death causes’

Hospitals in Bangladesh should periodically conduct audits to keep track of the deaths and their causes, said Gonoshasthya Kendra founder Dr Zafrullah Chowdhury on Tuesday. “Confusion over a patient's death can be avoided if all hospitals audit the deaths and maintain a detailed record of every death. A forensic coroner can conduct the audit in a hospital,” he told the Dhaka Tribune. Referring to the recent death of a Dhaka University student due to wrong diagnosis, the public health activist said: “It is sad that a young woman has died. But doctors never want to see their patients die. Dr Abdullah [the doctor who tended to the patient] is a sensible doctor.” He said instead of vandalising the hospital, the patient's family should have filed a complaint at the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council. “In cases like these, proper investigation is important; so is protection for doctors,” he added.

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Discussing the reasons behind attacks on hospitals over patient deaths, he said the government was partly to blame. “Hospitals are not properly monitored; moreover, the government is issuing licence to new private hospitals based on human resources rather than treatment facilities or the availability of doctors. So, like the doctors, the government also has to take the responsibility for situations like this.” On May 18, Afia Jahan Chaity, 20, a first-year student of zoology at Dhaka University, died at the Central Hospital in Green Road, Dhaka allegedly after receiving wrong treatment. The patient, who was admitted to the hospital on May 17 after doctors there diagnosed her with acute myeloblastic leukaemia, a type of blood cancer. But her death certificate states that she died of dengue.

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Chaity’s maternal uncle told the Dhaka Tribune: “The hospital gave us contradictory information; first they told us my niece had leukaemia, then they said she had dengue. This is an outrage.” As news of Chaity's death spread, 150-200 students from Dhaka University marched to the Central Hospital and vandalised a number of rooms. Later, the university authorities filed a medical malpractice case with Dhanmondi police station against the hospital authorities. Police arrested Central Hospital Director Dr MA Kashem and eight other doctors after the case was filed. All of them are currently out on bail.