The issues of patient-physician relationship and its current situation in Pakistan, physician's responsibilities, standards of care, patient's responsibilities and determination of physician's liability were thoroughly discussed. Many eminent lawyers, doctors, representatives of consumer protection societies, educationists, media representatives and others participated while the legal experts provided guidance on legal aspects of these issues under Pakistani as well as western law.
The symposium was chaired by Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan, former President, Supreme Court Bar Association. Other panellists, include Salman Akram Raja, Advocate Supreme Court of Pakistan and Professor Dr Tariq Iqbal Bhutta, former Principal, Nishtar Medical College, Multan attended the event.
Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan said that every charge of medical negligence and defence, thereof, has to be investigated in detail. There cannot be bright line rules and each case has to be judged on its own merits, he added. He stressed that there was no possibility of bringing criminal charges against a doctor accused of negligence, unless deliberate malice aforethought could be proved. However, doctors can be sued under civil law for medical malpractice.
He further said that since, in our society, physicians, lawyers and judges are only now becoming aware of issues related to alleged medical negligence, it was likely that we would see significant improvements in the field of medical jurisprudence. Aitzaz Ahsan also emphasised the need for the medical profession to develop medical standards like those of the West and suggested that medical malpractice insurance cover should be introduced in Pakistan.
He pointed out that it was detrimental for patients and for society as a whole to have doctors who were unable to practice or to think clearly through constant fear of litigation and criminal proceedings being brought against them. Salman Akram Raja said that bright line standards of care should be defined.
He pointed out that medical institutions were responsible to ensure that all staff they employed was competent and qualified to provide the required standard of care. Professor Dr Tariq Bhutta said that private medical colleges were producing poor quality doctors and that the quality of healthcare provision in the future was likely to deteriorate further.