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KARACHI: A case of medical negligence surfaced on Monday when a 37-year-old man from Ubauro, Ghotki, told a press conference that a surgeon had left a pair of scissors in his abdomen while operating upon him seven months back at a government hospital in Rahimyar Khan.

Showing an X-ray film to journalists at the Karachi Press Club, Safdar Ali Shah said he with a friend had come to the city on Saturday for a medical checkup after pain in his abdomen did not subside. He said he went for the X-ray on the advice of a doctor at the Liaquat National Hospital.

“The result shocked all of us, including the staff and doctors, as there was a pair of scissors lying in the abdomen.”

He said the doctors had prescribed immediate removal of the surgical instrument.

Waiting for an immediate intervention at some hospital, Mr Shah, a carpenter, said he left the private hospital because he could not afford to pay around Rs200,000, the estimated cost of operation.

“I am a poor man and I cannot pay the bills of private hospitals,” said Mr Shah while speaking to Dawn on phone late Monday night.

He added he would visit the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre or Civil Hospital Karachi on Tuesday for treatment.

His friend, Ahsan Ali, also a resident of Ubauro, expressed the hope that doctors and the relevant authorities would take up his case on humanitarian grounds and provide him the treatment free.

Mr Shah said that doctors at the Sheikh Zayed Hospital in Rahimyar Khan could be blamed for his suffering. “I am in possession of all relevant details and will definitely sue the irresponsible doctors.”

He recalled that he was admitted to the government hospital for surgery after sustaining a gunshot wound in a family dispute. “On Sept 4, 2011, a general surgeon operated upon me to save the abdomen and an artery damaged by the bullet,” he said.

He said he never felt relief from the pain since the operation, but he could not have imagined that a person as educated as a doctor could do this to him.

In reply to a question, he said he reported to the Rahimyar Khan hospital because it was the only major hospital located closed to the place of his residence.

1. The dingy room offers a complete contrast to the man sitting in the centre. Clad in a bright orange shirt he wipes his forehead off the sweat, and continues to address the small group of reporters congregated there. Dr. Kunal Saha is very animated as he explains the intricate details of his case to the group in The Press Club of Kolkata. The motive of the press conference was to expose the rampant corruption in the West Bengal Medical Council (WBMC), in relation to the death of Mrs. Anuradha Saha, Saha’s wife, in 1998 due to an alleged medical ‘negligence’. Dr Saha has been fighting the Indian medical and judicial system since the last thirteen years to get justice for his wife. He has virtually been a lone fighter and is continuing his fight against the system relentlessly.

Now Kunal Saha is back in the news as a High Court judgment a few weeks back indicted 17 doctor members of the West Bengal Medical Council for criminal conspiracy and shielding doctors responsible for the death of Anuradha Saha. Furthermore,  last month a case has been filed against a retired High Court Judge where the Supreme Court condemned him for making defamatory statements against Kunal Saha. 

“I am not fighting for myself. It’s for Anu(Anuradha) and as well as many others like her.”  says the gritty man with a simple smile, making one realize that no matter what adversities one might face, we should never give up hope.

The beginning and the love story

Born in Halisahar, (a city in the North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal), in 1958 to a large family, Dr Kunal Saha graduated from NRS Medical College, Kolkata in 1985 and then went on to America for his further studies. He did his PhD from the University of Texas, is now an MD and specializes in HIV/AIDS research.

It was in 1985, that he met Anuradha, that too by sheer co-incidence and the story unfolded almost like a Bollywood love story. Saha, after having missed a train to Delhi, had to board another train where he met Anuradha. That meeting led to a brief courtship that blossomed into a marriage in 1987. The next backdrop of what looked like a perfect boy-meets-girl story shifted to the US as the couple moved there to complete their medical education while chasing the great ‘American Dream’. Things went perfectly well for a decade and Anuradha went on to become a child psychiatrist while Kunal kept growing in his medical career before finally getting his fellowship from Ohio in 1998. It was at this time that the couple decided to start the new phase in their life by planning a family.   Packing off their stuff to Columbus they decided to visit India once, as Anuradha once wanted to visit her mother to take her blessings, before starting off the new phase.

Everything seemed perfect, for the fairy-tale story.

But Saha had no inkling on what was coming and how his life was about to change forever in the next few days.

 The Tragedy and the fight

It was during their short visit to Kolkata that Anuradha developed a simple skin rash from an allergic reaction to a drug. For treatment she consulted Dr. Sukumar Mukherjee who was quite well known as one of the best in the city. Dr. Mukherjee advised a drug called ‘Depomedrol’ , in a manner which was truly baffling.  'Depomedrol' is a long standing drug normally used for extreme cases of asthma or arthritis  , and  given at a maximum dose of 40-120 mg at 1-2 weeks interval. However, Anuradha was given that about 15 times it's normal usage. 

 Her condition worsened alarmingly since then and she was eventually shifted to Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai. Soon after, she breathed her last.

It would have been normal to go into a shell, and move on go back to his normal life. But he didn't  and decided to fight it out. To take on the doctors who were responsible for his wife’s death.“I am a doctor myself, when I was told about this I was in a daze standing outside the hospital room. I knew she was dead, but refused to believe it. When I entered the room, I saw the monitor was blank, but, maybe I was hallucinating, as I saw her sitting there and talking to me..Just telling me, that don’t give up Kunal...Don’t you ever give up...”, says Saha a little emotionally. He was distraught after the incident.  All their plans and dreams shattered in a matter of days.

However, that wasn’t to be easy. Saha soon realized that there is a whole nexus that is being maintained. The fact that he filed a criminal case against Dr. Sukumar Mukherjee and two other accused Doctors (Dr. Baidyanath Halder and Abani Roychodhury ), would amount to nothing. As Saha says, the High Court rejected his appeal and the doctors roamed free continuing with their jobs normally. “I could see the jigsaw unfolding before my eyes and I understood that the doctors were being backed by the West Bengal Medical Council (WBMC) who in turn was supported by the Medical Council of India (MCI). It was obvious that there was a whole network at place here, and that if even one of the biggies went down the whole system would be affected, more names would spill out; thus the backing and brushing up of things under the carpet. “  he says.

Clearly Saha now had to fight the entire medical system in the country. However Saha was not to give up so easily.

On 30th December 2001 he went on to form People for Better Treatment (PBT), in Kolkata, an organization whose main aim is to eradicate medical negligence and promote corruption-free healthcare in India. And this is what gave Dr. Saha’s fight the impetus he was so desperately looking for.  Under the PBT’s wings with efficient people under him, Dr. Saha restarted his fight against the doctors and filed his case again in the apex court.   Thus commenced a long ranging fight, and in a historic judgment on 7th August 2009 the Supreme Court  found four doctors and Advanced Medicare Research Institute(AMRI) guilty on accounts of negligence in medical treatment which eventually led to Anuradha Saha’s death.

It was a significant step in Saha’s fight. However, strangely the medical practicing right of the doctors was not snatched and neither were they jailed or sentenced.  This soured the small success somewhat, and as he dug deeper more names kept tumbling out and the fight continues to date.

The cause, the solution and the hope

“I am part of the problem too. I was selfish.  Until it happened to me it didn’t bother me” , says the man with grim honesty.  But nevertheless he feels that more than the solidarity shown to him by some of the doctors, he would rather prefer them to give them their support in person, as it would make his case look much stronger. But no one wants to take the risk.  So how do we change all this?? What can be the solution??

The main problem, says Dr. Saha is the whole administration which needs an overhaul and more importantly the mentality of the doctors and the medical system.

Says Kolkata based physician D.P. Mullick, “Dr. Saha is not just fighting for his wife, this is a fight for every citizen who does not want to have a similar fate. It is the responsibility of the medical authorities and the state to take care of the patients. Unfortunately in today’s age that does not happen.  Hopefully Saha’s fight would change that and make our medical system more accountable.”

Being an American citizen as well, Dr. Saha understands the basic difference between the two systems. “In America there is accountability, and humanity when treating their patients.” Furthermore he says that before the Medical system the Indian Judiciary too needs reformation to support the people in getting justice done effectively.

However he is getting some support from different quarters as senior Kolkata lawyer Mr. Alok Mitra says, “Dr .Kunal Saha’s case is a good case.I believe under the circumstances and considering the facts of the situation, we can expect some positive outcome of the judgment. “

But he still has hope that things will change, and he along with PBT will try and make this country clean of any such cases like he has had to face.

The Fight continues…

Cases like Dr. Saha are rare, someone who has fought for 13 years relentlessly.  Staying in America, doing his research in HIV/AIDS, and yet coming here regularly for his case, and managing the affairs of the PBT too.  “For me Anuradha can never be dead. I have a big house there in America, and she stays with me.  Our meeting was a pre-scripted story, it was destiny. As if someone wanted me to do this. If I win this case it would perhaps set an example for others to be careful about. I hope I can just make this country a better place, so that children won’t have to die unnecessarily due to some ignorant people. Anuradha always wanted that. “ says Saha .

While we wait for the Supreme Court Judgment and hope that it goes in the right direction, one thing is for certain, that Kunal Saha will not give up.  He is already turned into an inspirational figure for many suffering from fate similar to his.

Dr. Saha can be described both as the man who fought the system and the husband who loves his wife and is trying to bring her justice. One can learn from people like him, that no matter what we should never give up hope.  No matter what we should forever keep fighting………………………..

The first one is the case of Dr Kunal Saha v. Dr. Sukumar Mukherjee and Ors. Anuradha Saha, wife of the complainant was diagnosed with TEN, a serious skin disease. She was admitted in the AMRI hospital, Kolkata. Later since there was no improvement in her condition, rather it was getting bad; she was shifted to Breach Candy Hospital, Mumbai, where she breathed her last.  Dr. Kunal Saha filed a complaint at the National Consumer Commission, seeking compensation, against the Doctors of AMRI hospital and also the directors of the hospital for being grossly negligent while treating his wife. The compensation sought by the complainant was an amount of Rs.77 crore. The National Commission dismissed the complaint on the ground that whatever happened was beyond the capacity of the doctors.

The Supreme Court overruled the decision of the Consumer commission. It held the AMRI and the accused doctors liable for medical negligence. The case was then sent back to the National Consumer Commission to decide the compensation amount. The National Commission, awarding a record amount as compensation fined the Hospital and the accused doctors with an amount of Rs. 1, 73,000,000.

In another case, Prasanth S. Dhananka, an engineering student from Andhra Pradesh approached the Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) complaining of recurring fever. After conducting a lot of tests, it was revealed that he has a small tumor in his ribs. An operation was conducted to remove the tumor, after which Prashanth became completely paralyzed

A complaint was filed before the National Consumer Commission alleging the Doctors of NIMS to be negligent, seeking a compensation of Rs. 7.5 crore. The National Commission finding the doctors guilty of committing medical negligence, awarded Prashanth a compensation of Rs. 1,05,00,000. The Supreme Court affirmed this decision.

The two cases mentioned above saw the first and second highest compensation amount ordered by the Consumer Commission in a medical negligence case. There are many other cases in which the Consumer Courts awarded high compensation to the victims of medical negligence.

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