Darul Sehat Hospital has urged the Sindh Healthcare Commission (SHCC) to reconsider the recently issued seal orders on alleged charges of non-compliance to immediate recommendations made in its report on 'Baby Nashwa Case'. "Complying to the report we have acted immediately and reported back to the commission within 24 hours of receiving the report," said the hospital in a statement issued Friday.
SHCC in its report handed over to the management in evening of 23rd April 2019 recommended the hospital management to terminate the incharge of recruitment, the concerned midwife and nursing assistant, and stopped the hospital from admitting any new patients on immediate basis, while also recommended to take more measure within two month.
"The hospital duly complied and reported back for compliance by an email on next day at the official email address dc@shcc.org.pk, and also sent the report through TCS along with the complete set of supporting documents in the morning of April 25, 2019," said Professor Abdul Rasheed Khan, spokesperson of the hospital.
However, SHCC issued a seal order on 25 April 2019 vide letter no. 0527/SHCC/CEO asking Darul Sehat Hospital for safe transfer of the patients admitted in the hospital to any other healthcare facility for which the hospital is not able to take responsibility in given circumstances.
"Presently we have 16 patients admitted in our hospital out of which 05 patients are admitted in the Intensive Care Unit. As per SHCC direction, the hospital is not moving critical patients at this stage and will continue to provide treatment and quality care to all the patients," said the spokesperson.
"We will continue to update Sindh Health Care Commission on daily basis regarding the ongoing compliance. We request for any additional advice/recommendation as the Commission may deem fit, so that the same can also be implemented as and when required," he added.
He further said that with deepest of compassion and empathy the hospital reiterates its fullest condolence towards the family members of Baby Nashwa over her sad demise and we are fully committed to follow the SHCC recommendations in its true letter and spirit to mitigate the possibility of any such incident in future.
He also clarified that the number of nursing staff that are in the process of diploma and are doing training as part of their requirement is 36, not 95 as stated in the report, and they were not involved in direct nursing care of the patients.
"Moreover, we already had a crash team for critical situations which has now been renamed to Code Blue team, as per directives of SHCC," said Dr Rasheed. "We humbly request the Sindh Healthcare Commission (SHCC) to reconsider the recently issued seal orders, so that we can continue to serve the patients with peace of mind and work with full commitment for compliance of SHCC report," he added.