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.