Dr Abdulla Waheed conceals the true Zakwan report.

The family of Ali Zakwan, the little boy who died at IGMH due to negligence of the then head of Childrens' medicine department Dr George John, has been denied justice by the Maldives justice system. Case of medical negligence filed by Zakwans' family has been given the cold shoulder.

 

We at MMW have been informed of a special investigation report into the incident that was compiled by a team of doctors at IGMH headed by Dr Abdulla Waheed. This investigation was conducted in the immediate aftermath of the death of Zakwan as part of an internal review into the circumstances of the events that lead to the sad outcome.

 

Although we have not gained access to the report itself, we are made to understand that the 10 plus page document clearly highlights negligence committed by doctors involved in care of Zakwan at IGMH. The report, we are told, names Dr George John, then the incharge of childrens' department as the main culprit in the negligent act. It also highlights that IGMH must take responsibility for the whole affair and pay compensation to the family for their loss.

 

What has happened to this report? In a private conversation that we had with a senior level medical administrative staff at IGMH, who at that time worked with Dr Mohamed Solih himself at his office, informed us that Dr Abdulla Waheed ordered the report be`shelved as part of a cover-up! Working from within the ministry of Health, Dr Waheed himself, formed a second committee to re-write the report, with the interest of the hospital getting preference over the truth, to draw up a second non-damaging report.

 

In addition to this, we are aware of a campaign conducted by Dr Abdulla Waheed and Dr Abdulla Afeef to plant the entire blame for the sad outcome on Dr Fathmath Shafga, with whom they apparently had a strained relationship. On the instruction of Dr Waheed, Dr Afeef planted ideas in the head of the family of Zakwan to suggest that the outcome was as a result of negligence from Dr Shafga, a fact that, we are told, was disputed in the first report into the events.

 

MMW, has also been informed that Mr Husnu Suood, the lawyer for the Zakwan family, was informed of the presence of the first report and the acts of Dr Abdulla Waheed in obstructing justice for the family. He has not been given access to the original report. The case, has been held back from courts for the past 3 years with nothing other than an initial hearing conducted.

 

MMW asks that justice be done for the family of Zakwan and just compensation be provided. They deserve to know the truth.

MMW endorses Anni.

MMW has decided, after much deliberation, to endorse MDP presidential candidate Mr Mohamed Nasheed (Anni) in the upcoming 2nd round of the presidential elections.

 

Maldives is in need of sweeping reforms in all sectors of public service. Such reform has been cosmetic, slow, halting and incomplete during the reign of the current president and the Candidate for DPR. The health sector has faltered and failed to deliver basic medical care for the large majority of the populace of this nation. Real changes and improvement is not possible, as we understand, under the leadership of Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. He has, had his turn(s) and failed miserably.

 

Endorsing Anni has not been easy. However, the team behind him at this crucial moment in time is more than capable of turning this ailing country to health ad wellbeing. We at MMW herewith Endorse Anni for president of the Maldives.

 

May Allah guide us all in achieving our true potential as a nation. Ameen.

 

MMW team.

Maldives Medical Watch revival

The team at MMW has changed following last nights meeting held at KL. The new operations team is based in KL. We will continue to use the services of informers placed within the institutins across the country.

 

The team has been trimmed down to 3 active members; Shizmeena, Ismail and Mubeen. We thank and respect the decisions of those members who have chosen to leave the team.

 

For the team,

Mubeen.

Leaked letter from IGMH

To :
Dr. Fathmath Ali Didi
The Director,
Medical Administration
IGMH.

 7 July 2007

Respected Madam,

With reference to the previous conversations, we would like to bring to your kind notice our experience with Dr. Rony Gerorge who joined our ward as a pediatrician.

Dr. Rony Geroge joined our department on 25th June 2007. We had a good opportunity to work with him and evaluate him.

We found him irresponsible, incompetent and on occasion lacking in basic knowledge to deal with pediatric patients. We feel that he may be doing harm to the pediatric patients he attend. During the period he stayed with us his practice required continuous monitoring.

May we also remind that he was brought to IGMH after having practiced in a hospital in one of the atolls for longer than a year. Therefore, we are concerned that he might be allowed to return to one of the islands where he would continue his malpractice unsupervised.

This is for your kind notice and necessary action.


Dr. Ismail Shafeeu
Registrar in Pediatrics
Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital

Help us find this doctor.

Name: Dr Rony George,
Sex: Male
Age: Around 40 to 45 years
Specialty: Pediatrician
Nationality: Indian,

Known to have worked at:

M. Muli Regional Hospital in 2007.
IGMH in 2007

Description: Tall, thin, lightly tanned, walks with a barely noticeable limp, no facial hair or spectacles

Reportedly still working in the Maldives.

The gross Casualty Medical Officer.

A complaint that seems to be going unheard:

I am a 34 year old man from Ga. Gemanafushi living and working in Male' for the past many years. I have been to IGMH several times over the past many years to get treatment for my 15 year old daughter who suffers from epilepsy.
 
In all my experiences I have never come across the kind of experience as I did last week (MMW notes: email originally send to MMW in February). I was at IGMH to show my daughter because she had started to complain of headache that morning. She was saying that it was similar to the kind of headaches that she gets just before she gets a fit.

We were unable to get an appointment for Dr Ali Latheef, whom we regularly consult. Not wanting to wait till my daughter suffers another terrible fit, I took her to the emergency room to have her seen and if possible get some treatment that might prevent her from getting a fit again. She was already on medications, but we were close to running out of her tablets.

After waiting in the casualty waiting area, our token number finally flashed on the display at the "casualty medical officer" room. We had no idea who we were about to see. We wouldn't have anyway expected to see anything like what we saw. Medical treatment aside, this was a terrible sight.
 
Sitting almost fully slumped in her chair was a lady doctor who seemed to be in her late 20s to early 30s. She was clearly not a Maldivian. She is darked skinned, not that her skin colour bothers me (MMW notes: we believe this description is given for the sake of identifying the doctor). Her hair was all over the place, I could have sworn that her hair had not been touched by a comb or brush in ages. Her white doctors' coat, if you would still call it white, was all crumpled, with patches of what appeared to be coffee or tea stain, the hem dirty from dust and other grime and carrying blue ink marks as if she had been drawing on it. This was THE most unsightly doctor I had ever seen in my entire life. The only things that I saw about her that gave me a hit of her having prepared to come to work were the conspicuous white talcum powder covering her forehead and cheeks and the lip-stick on her mouth.

Her spectacles, I don't know if she could really see though them, had what appeared to me as heavy oily finger prints all over the lenses.

Her appearance was so gross that my daughter turned to me and said that she'd rather see someone else. But we had no choice.
 
After a few questions and plenty of time to illegibly scribble on the prescription pad, and an in between happy chatting phone call in some foreign language, she handed us a treatment plan; which was actually a refill of our old prescription. She hadn't laid a finger on my daughter, who was obviously relieved that she wasn't touched by the "gross doc".

I tried to politely ask her what her diagnosis of the current headache was. In a quick but thankfully forcefully assuring tone she said "nothing to worry". I was worried. I have seen doctors see my daughter before. This was nothing even close to the minimum examination
we we used to before.
 
Unhappy, I went to the ER coordinator, who happened to be a senior Maldivian nurse to complain. She was nice to me. She listened to what I had to say. I complained about 2 things. Her dress sense and hygiene, which I told the coordinator was shameful for a doctor and about the way she was treating patients without examining them.
 
What the coordinator candidly revealed to us was not surprising: similar complaints have been reported about the same doctor on several occasions. She has apparently been talked to about the complaints by ER coordinators and supervisors. But, even after repeated complaint there has been no improvement in her attire or medical practice AND no action at all from the hospital administration either.
 
Determined to do something about it, I got myself excused from work the next morning to go to the CEOs office to meet Dr Yasir or Dr Fathmath Didi to officially complain. I now realize it was all a waste of time. After waiting for 2 hours I was told that Dr Yasir was unable to meet me today because he was busy with some other work. I saw him sitting in his office all this time all alone. I was given 10 minutes with one of the administrative boys who politely listened to my complaints but said that they couldn't do anything themselves. I was asked to come again tomorrow and that Dr Yasir might be able to meet me then.
 
Frustrated, I asked the young administrative officer to relay my complaints to his seniors as I was not in a position to stay away from work another day.

I did write a letter to IGMH the next day. Till today I am awaiting a response.

By the way, after leaving hospital after seeing the "gross doc" we went to see Dr Ali Latheef at his private practice. He was kind enough to see my daughter and change treatment.

Abdul Samad (not real name).

This email has been shortened for clarity.

Update:The case of the baby who almost bled to death from a central line.

Finally some good news!

The baby and its twin are both doing well and are expected to leave hospital in the next week or two. According to our sources the child remained in intensive care for 3 weeks because of small size and the "accidental bleeding" episode.

According to family sources the doctors looking after the children are confident that both would survive with minimal to no adverse effects. The child who had the "accident" would apparently be on anti-epilepsy medications for a few more weeks and be subjected to frequent developmental assessments to identify possible neurological and developmental deficits.

Note: We have received emails from one individual claiming to be a nurse looking after the child. Her primary concern was that we were only covering negative aspects of hospital care, in particular newborn intensive care. We would like to publicly state that we do investigate other cases as well but do not get the same level of information and cooperation from patient families when the reported cases involve adults and elderly. We are willing to bring out both sides of any story and would encourage everyone to write to us to express their views.