The Punjab government has suspended nine doctors and medical officials of Multan’s Nishtar Hospital following an inquiry into a surgery conducted on an HIV-positive patient without mandatory HIV screening.
The investigation, launched by Nishtar Medical University, found the individuals guilty of misconduct and violation of hospital screening protocols.
Following the submission of the inquiry report on May 22 to the Punjab Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education Department, the provincial government initiated disciplinary proceedings under the Punjab Employees Efficiency, Discipline and Accountability (PEEDA) Act 2006.
The provincial health department placed Senior Registrar of Surgery Dr Fariha Ahmed and Staff Nurse Rida Zahra under immediate suspension. Medical Officer Dr Mohammad Ali Jan, Dr Shahbaz Anwar and Dr Muhammad Naeem Akhtar also faced suspension on grounds of mismanagement.
Furthermore, the government suspended the specialised training programmes of pathology resident Dr Sania Saeed, general surgery resident Dr Irsa Arif and orthopedic surgery resident Dr Akhtar.
According to the inquiry document, the committee investigated claims that a surgical procedure took place before medical staff verified the patient’s HIV status. The findings revealed that multiple officials failed to upload, communicate or check the laboratory reports prior to the operation.
The report stated that Dr Fariha skipped a mandatory post-operative round on May 19 and delayed informing senior management about the status of the report.
Staff Nurse Zahra did not communicate the patient’s HIV findings to the head nurse.
Within the hospital laboratory, pathology residents Dr Sania and Dr Umer did not upload the results to the hospital portal or transmit the data to the surgical ward.
Dr Anwar, the admin registrar at Nishtar Lab, failed to oversee the portal delay or coordinate with the surgical team.
For the operation itself, surgical residents Dr Akhtar and Dr Irsa proceeded with the surgery without completing the standard pre-operative checklist.
Anaesthesia Medical Officer Dr Jan and Dr Abu Zer cleared the patient for surgery and administered anesthesia without verifying the laboratory results.
The incident caused concern among healthcare workers regarding compliance with infection-control protocols at the facility.
