Hamad to blame on HMC Doctor's attack?
Source: http://dohanews.co/post/28759872062/attack-on-hmc-doctor-raises-tough-qu...
Attack on HMC doctor raises tough questions about race relations, hospital care in Qatar
Last month, an Indian doctor at Hamad Hospital was attacked by a patient’s relatives, putting him in the ICU with five cracked ribs.
Frightened and incensed, Hamad’s Emergency Room staff say something must be done about the growing intimidation and disrespect they face, particularly from patients and visitors who are young, male and Qatari.
The problem has grown such that many HMC employees say they are now scared to work in the urgent care section specifically designated for nationals. In a recent interview, HMC staffers told Doha News what happened on July 21.
What happened
Shortly after midnight on the second night of Ramadan, an ambulance arrived carrying a patient with a nosebleed.
The on-call HMC doctor went to consult with the EMS attendant who brought him in, when one of the patient’s relatives grew angry, saying the doctor should direct his questions to him and the other young men present.
The doctor gestured for him to wait as he spoke with the EMS attendant.
That’s when the assault began. One man started punching him, and two or three others joined in. The doctor fell to the floor, trying to shield himself from repeated kicks with his arms.
At one point, one attacker picked up a heavy piece of hospital equipment and hit the doctor over the head with it.
Meanwhile, frightened visitors and female staff looked on helplessly.
The security guard ran to call the police, but by the time the officers arrived, the doctor had five fractured ribs, blood in his lungs and bruises on his face and the back of his head.
Though his attackers fled, they were identified when the patient with the nosebleed was interrogated by police. They have since been arrested, but prosecutors have yet to formally charge them and no court date has been set.
“He should be the last victim,” one staffer said about the assaulted doctor, who Doha News is not naming for his own privacy.
The doctor remains in recovery at the hospital and is under 24-hour guard following several visits by his attackers’ relatives, who have tried unsuccessfully to cajole and intimidate him into dropping all charges, staffers told Doha News.
Incidents on the rise
Last month’s incident was the most serious case of abuse against HMC medical staff in recent memory.
But incidents of intimidation, including yelling, threatening and the throwing of waiting room chairs at doctors and nurses have been on the rise in the past two to three years, interviewees said.
The problem makes it impossible to gloss over the fact that racism and classism continue to plague Qatar, the staffers assert.
With regards to this incident, young nationals who grow up with Indian drivers, cooks, gardeners and other service people appear to have the hardest time accepting the authority of an Indian doctor, those interviewed told Doha News.
“Usually, someone comes into a hospital (in an emergency), they’re thinking, ‘I’m looking for someone to save me,’ ” said one interviewee, who’s identity remains anonymous as HMC employees are not permit to speak to the press. “Qataris - they think, ‘you better save me.’ “
A generational gap also exists. “The elderly people - they are so sweet,” he said. They remember what Qatar was like before and thank us for helping to develop their country, he added.
Hamad to blame
But not everyone viewed the assault within the expat/locals paradigm.
The doctor was not attacked because of his nationality, Dr. Moza Al-Malki, renowned Qatari therapist and writer told Doha News.
“It’s because the situation in Hamad Hospital is very bad,” she said, referring to long wait times and frequent complaints of the poor bedside manner of some staffers.
She added: “They should do something with the emergency section. Anybody who goes there gets nervous and loses their temper.”
What now?
Authorities are aware of the grave implications of last month’s attack. The Indian embassy has gotten involved and the doctor has been visited by the Health minister and other top-level officials, including HMC’s new director.
HMC is also setting up a committee to improve security within the hospital, and is considering installing CCTV cameras inside the building, staffers told Doha News.
Finally the hospital has promised to address complaints about rude employees and overcrowding through staff training and an expansion of its facilities.
Still, staffers say the memory of the assault will likely linger in the ER for a very long time. “For what did I study 15 years? Was it all a waste?” mused one doctor who said he has experienced growing disrespect at Hamad.
Thoughts?
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doctor's appointments by selecting doctor of your choice, we've most of the hospitals and clinics in Qatar and also delivers all your products , creams and even prescription medicine from any pharmacy of your choice all over Qatar right to your door ! its FREE !
https://www.dowwak.com/
Try Dowwak! a mobile application that allows you to book
doctor's appointments by selecting doctor of your choice, we've most of the hospitals and clinics in Qatar and also delivers all your products , creams and even prescription medicine from any pharmacy of your choice all over Qatar right to your door ! its FREE !
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HMC
I agree with fluffy. It's worth giving a thought that why a hospital with such a big budget is employing substandard doctors and other staff. Are there flaws in recruitment procedures? Has it got something to do with the way they treat the doctors after recruitment? Do all the doctors get housing? Is the work distribution fair? Are the responsibilities given to doctors is as per their post & payment? You will be surprised to know that lowest paid doctors of HMC are given the maximum responsibilities. The doctors with the fattest pay are the least contributors to the services.
or have a profession would rather go to other parts of the world...they don't want to stay here.
work there and you will know why things re sometimes slow there
i think with the amount of money Qatar has they should have top notch medical staff and facilities. But they don't. it's sub par medical and staff at Hamad. Whenever i meet someone new to Doha i tell them to run far away from hamad hospital.
yes every hospital has it's bad sides. but hamad has too many. you can meet any random person on the street here and they can tell you a bad experience.
its so bad there one of my friends needed a surgery and the doctor advised her not to do it in hamad, he told her they would make her condition worse.
Pray for the recovery of the doctor and forget the whole incident. Relax and let the police do their duties and court give their right judgement.
regardless if it's real security guards or not..but no one dares to put his life on risk by fighting to a local (should the perpetrator is local). even in malls, no one has balls to ask a local to stop smoking even the malls security staffs because of fear of deportation, etc....
SS..
Yeah.. Or dispatch security guards ( i mean real guards, bouncers like ) will do..
Those who mauled this Doctor have no balls at all.. Real men fight fairly. they should have given him a fair fight, 1 on 1 with the same weight..
i dnt thnk ths will be a good idea patients will cum with dere bodyguards...lols
@tigabaguio that's a good idea..lolz..if not they can conduct a weekend taekwondo/judo training for all the HMC staffs..they should also include in the description..
P.S.
Maybe its time to incorporate self defense trainings for hospitals staffs lol..
Or to be considered in Hospitals Staff's Job Descriptions..
2012.. Hope Qatar will be ready..
i cant blv in HMC first cum first service anything like this is available
i can't believe that even in HMC the first come first serve basis is happening..tsk! tsk! tsk!
I am just disappointed of what happened to me in the ER and worried of losing one of my kidneys because of that...Meanwhile, I am still thankful for the urologists who made the surgery for me . At least they tried to do what they can and as per their experience and knowledge...
I agree somehow with the comments of everyone; however, I must add something. There is no perfect system in the world. 'A perfect system' could only exist in our mind in the present day. May be sometimes in the future, we might have one, but not now at least.
I have experienced some of the best medical centers in the world including the United States. None of them is perfect, and I could recount more harrowing stories than the one told here about any of those places where I have lived and worked.
In terms of professional competence, let me admit, I do find inadequacies more in the ER staff at Hamad, than any other specialty. However, that in no means we should generalize, or we should blame the hospital.
The hospital, and its top management, is toiling its best to bring their services at par with the best in the rest of the world. However, this would take time.
As for as the waiting thing is concerned, this happens everywhere in the world. Obviously, if there is more work load, there would be delay in the delivery of services. Someone may ask here, "but why dont they just expand their services?" Well, again nowhere in the world do we have limitless resources. Although Qatar is rich and its government is generous to ensure fullest services to its people, there are still limits to resources whether it is money, time or personnel.
I believe this act of voilence which happened is a purely isolated event and should be regarded as such. I am never saying it should be condoned though. If there is a mistake, or negligence on the part of a doctor, the doctor himself is to blame, not the whole hospital, unless it is a hospital policy which is at fault.
Let us pray to Allah that Qatar grows and its health system grows along with it. Ameen.
I remember when I had severe pain few weeks ago and went to the ER.. It was a kidney stone...I had to wait for about two and half hours until they called my name.
And after some routine medical examination, the doctor came to me and told me that it is just a kidney stone and no worries. Just drink water and you will be fine. He only prescribed paracetamol for me...
After 3 days of severe pain, I had fever, started vomiting all the time, and I was sweating alot on the side where I had the pain... For some reason, I felt that the stone is blocking the flow of urine and I could not handle it anymore, so I went back to the ER and I had to wait again for more than 2 hours to get in...This time, and after CT scan, ultrasound, and other medical examinations, a urologist came to me and told me that my case is an interesting one because 3 days ago the function of my kidney was normal and now it has decreased dramatically. He said that they expect the stone is blocking the flow of the urine (exactly what I guessed after surfing the net while I was at home suffering from unbearable pain). Therefore, i had to have a surgery on the next day...
After the surgery, the doctor told me that they found that I had infection in the urinary tract because of the blockage of the urine flow for the last few days and therefore, they did not fragment the stone because it is risky and not allowed to do anything when there is an infection... Now I am scheduled for another surgery next week to remove a stent that they have placed and fragment the stone.
My first point, should I had cried or thrown myself on the floor so that they will let me in? many people were playing games with their phone while waiting their turn (mostly labors wearing their uniforms. I think they just went to the ER hoping to get a sick leave to skip at least one working day under the sun), while I was suffering from severe pain and moving all over the waiting room trying to distract my mind and forget the pain...
My second point is that I was about to loose my right side kidney because of the naive medical examination that I had on the first day. The stone has already blocked the flow of urine and the infection started to attack the kidney, but the doctor did not think of that. He just told me to go home, drink lots of water, and I will be fine... If he checked with CT scan or ultrasound, he could had seen the stone blocking the ureter.
My third point is that the doctors have already risked my kidney by scheduling me for a surgery to place a stent and fragment a stone when they dont know that there is an infection already. With CT scan or some other kind of medical tests, they could had seen that there is an infection and postponed the operation for later until the infection is gone. Now I have to have another surgery to complete what they have started in the first surgery and I am taking the risk of loosing my right side kidney because of the infection and the stent placed in the kidney...
My last point is, non of the administrative staff or the nurses helped to get the contact number of my doctor or at least told me where his office is. They only advised me to come at 7 a.m. and try my luck because he might show up any time in the morning while checking patients on that floor..I went there to ask him some questions concerning my health and the medicines that he prescribed for me...I did not ask for his phone number or office to say hi and chat with him...
As per my experience, next time if ever an accident happen, don't let the drivers go to the ER. Just call the ambulance. This is the only way they will get in straight away.
ok this is depressing. i dont like what i read here about Qatar. i'm supposed to like this place :/ and this scares me off.
2 of our drivers were victims of a vehicular accident June 23rd and it was a harrowing experience even for me, their immediate supervisor.
1 of the 2 drivers were treated immediately bcoz he was bruised all over and groggy.
The other one had some concussions and brushes so he was in the emergency section from 1:30PM to 10:00PM waiting for the doctor to arrive.
When I asked the nurse why make all these patients wait in pain...they said its first come first serve. I said, isn't this the EMERGENCY SECTION wherein there's should be (shifting) doctors on duty?
The guys who mauled the doctor? They're upset, worried and wants immediate answer. The doctor should have spoke to them that he's just getting the medical diagnosis from the EMS so he would have a better understanding of the patient's situation.
The perpetrators got angry for the "brush off" attitude given to them. And since no one could give us "what really happened, all are speculations.
There may be other factors why these guys lost their temper and went berserk on the doctor. Maybe something the doctor said or the manner how he said it? who knew????
BUT MAULING THE DOCTOR??? UNACCEPTABLE...
These thugs no doubt should be in Jail for a long time. They went too far on this assault and he doctor didn't deserve no matter what he did.
However Hamad staff have to do some self reflection on why angry patients and their families are on the rise.
They have no bed side manner at all and they make a lot of misdiagnoses.
A friend of mine had a miscarriage at 7 months. While she was getting an ultra sound she could see on the doctors face something was wrong. When she asked her is there anything wrong. The doctor said the baby died. Then she told her "now don't start crying now".what kind of nonsense is that you tell a woman who just had a miscarriage to don't start crying?
and my father went to hamad one time because he had breathing difficulties. they told him he had asthma (even though he never had it in his entire life) so they gave him an inhaler and no improvement. fast forward a few months later. while we were in canada he went to the doctor again. the doctor made him go to the hospital immediately because his heart was enlarged and only working at 12%. he had high blood pressure and not asthma. now i would have been well in my right to go back to the doctor at hamad who diagnosed him and gave him a good slap but i didn't.
hamad is the worse hosptial in Qatar. I am surprised a situation like this hadn't happen sooner.
xpressodoc thanks for your informed and balanced opinion and the defense of same opinion. It's gladdening to know that there are people in Qatar I can share ideals with.
True... very true. Qatar just started developing few years and it will be much better that London provided we learn from whats happening here. Else............
Hope for the best.. Thats the end of the story :) Thanks for commenting QL'ians
I think all this is going to mean a big time trouble in future. I would like to point it out that Emergency physicians are in a big demand all over the world & this kind of racism will definitely affect the best interest of HMC. BTW when did the medical director change or are you talking about the emergency medicine director?
http://www.cdc.gov/HomeandRecreationalSafety/Fire-Prevention/fires-factsheet.html
Occurrence and Consequences
On average in the United States in 2010, someone died in a fire every 169 minutes, and someone was injured every 30 minutes (Karter 2011).
About 85% of all U.S. fire deaths in 2009 occurred in homes (Karter 2011).
In 2010, fire departments responded to 384,000 home fires in the United States, which claimed the lives of 2,640 people (not including firefighters) and injured another 13,350, not including firefighters (Karter 2011).
Most victims of fires die from smoke or toxic gases and not from burns (Hall 2001).
Smoking is the leading cause of fire-related deaths (Ahrens 2011).
Cooking is the primary cause of residential fires (Ahrens 2011).
Source: http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/lawsuit/fire_accident.html#.UB6ahvbibn4
"According to the US Fire Administration (USFA), in 2008 3,320 Americans died as a result of a fire while 16,705 Americans were injured. Eighty-four percent of civilian fire deaths occurred in residences and 315 civilian deaths were the result of an intentionally set fire. Property loss due directly to fires cost approximately $15.5 billion. Furthermore, 118 firefighters were killed on duty.
There were more than 1,400,000 reported fires in 2008. Of those fires, approximately 48 percent were outside or other fires, approximately 36 percent were structure fires and the final 16 percent were vehicle fires. More than 17,000 fires were intentionally set.
In 2008, fire killed more Americans than all natural disasters combined, the USFA reports. "
What i m telling is fact not like some time pass guys in QL
http://www.itv.com/news/london/2012-08-05/one-person-dead-in-hackney-hostel-fire/
http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/LatestIncidents.asp
Developed london has fire activity for fun? what the fire alarms and safety devices doing?
Want to try working in the UK......attacks on healthcare professionals is the norm!!!
Whatever happened is irreversible. NOw what to do? learn from it and analyse and try to see what couldve been done and see the alternatives from multiple angles, take proper feedback and corrective measures, implement . All fine except implementation :)
Villagio fire, attack on the doctor, muither shooting etc etc etc are all rumors
Dont link 2022 to a single incident in HMC. Go and see whats happening in London.. Shooting and killing everywhere.
Its not blaming doctor, just a few seconds of response to the relatives wouldn't cost this much pain and agony for the poor doctor.
Well for a change lets blame the doctor for having choosen to work in this place but it just cannot go on forever. Those same excuses might not be even valid coming closer to 2022 or you might find most of this countries taking part in the London games not wanting to come over here
Most doctors think they are superhumans and never bother the mentality of either the injured/sick or their worried relatives. First they should be trained to be a human. Instead of asking the details with the EMS attendant, the doctor atleast should ve enquired with the relatives as they asked him due to their worry about the patient.
They he should have taken him inside and could ve spoken to the EMS attendant. Instead the gesture of doctor angered the relatives. If the doctor had listened to the patients relative atleast for few minutes they would have felt much better. Recently we had an incident in one of the health center. For every sickness they just prescribe paracentamol, they wont even listen what we are telling them. Thats the state of treatment here. To be frank in India though we have almost same condition (but unhygenic) in government hospitals, if we shell out few pennies we can get the best care and the little comfort the patient needs. Too much policy from UK will bring too much issues too
Did I hear gunshots in muither? No, just my imagination again......
Seriously though society needs to confront these problems rather than ignore them and hope they go away.
Assaulting a doctor is the lowest of the low. What do they do for an encore, push old ladies to the ground for getting in their way in city Center, burning some Nepalese at Sealine when they get cold in the winter....
expressodoc, The full report suggests every now and then that the perpetrators were Qataris though nothing specific has been said.
When the staff of HMC make a comment like the one you have quoted from the original post, it leaves no doubt in our minds to guess the nationality of the perpetrators. If they had been of any other nationality, the same would definitely have been exposed.
Obviously the men are from an important family so they are sacared to name them.
BTW, anyone charged over the Villagio fire or is it time to pretend it didn't happen?
xpressodoc, I usually read the original post before commenting. Do you?
Sharia law says an eye for an eye..but here its not applicable as the victim is an India expat and the perpetrators are Qatari nationals.
Can anyone recall a single case here in the past where a national was put behind bars for beating an asian expat?
"What self respecting, especially brown coloured doctor, would ever consider working in this society now?" - Not many self respecting brown doctors come to Qatar (or the GCC) in the first place. Those who do come, are best avoided.
If they aren't charged and prosecuted it will only go to show what a complete farce Qatari "Justice" is...
Azmat spot on. For illicit relations its your sponsors word that is taken and you are thrown in jail for something that harms no one. In this case you can break bones and even hit a man over the head with medical equipment and the police sit on their hands.
What self respecting, especially brown coloured doctor, would ever consider working in this society now?
Like for azamat's post.
If it really happened its a real shame and to imagine that the culprits have not bee brought to book yet is simply disgusting.
Thoughts -
Why wasn't the nationality of the victim and perpetrators not mentioned in the regular newspapers?
When some poor drivers and maids are caught for "illicit relations" their nationality is always highlighted in the news articles.
Why haven't the perpetrators been formally charged?
"They have since been arrested, but prosecutors have yet to formally charge them and no court date has been set."
When some poor drivers and maids are caught for "illicit relations" they are charged, jailed and deported at short notice, with little proof but only hearsay and one mans word against another.
Barking dogs, you need to find a real stone
I blame the person who assaulted him first.
After that, I think Hamad needs to provide real security in Emergency Rooms--these are tense places, and people don't always act rationally under these conditions.
Hamada is not to blame, it was the young qataris! So the police even after all these weeks, even with a positive identification do not have enough evidence to charge them and bring them to trial? I would say the police and criminal prosecution are to blame for a shocking lack of inaction.