Public hospitals in Southern Kurdistan must be held accountable for negligence
Public hospitals in Southern Kurdistan suffer from lack of independent bodies monitoring the services provided by doctors, nurses and staff members. There are no avenues for accountability, particularly where medical malpractice and negligence is concerned. In one of our visits to the hospital of Rizgari in the province of Hewler, Southern Kurdistan, we interviewed patients to see if they were satisfied with the services provided.
The mother of 11-year-old Ibrahim spoke to us briefly on the services provided, “We have to chase the doctors to come and check up on patients. Even the nurses look down on us. It is as if they are doing us a favour, and we are mere dirt here to bother them”. Her husband added, “There are no adequate services anywhere within this hospital. For instance, this ward has no air conditioner and as you can see we are all sweating. This isn’t what a hospital is supposed to be like, but who will listen or care about our voices?”.
Mahmoud who had hurt his arm quite badly was covered in a blanket with flies circulating around him, and despite the scorching summer weather in Kurdistan there were no fans or air conditioners available in his ward. When asked regarding the services provided at this hospital, he said, “If I was not in so much pain, I would not be here. I can’t afford to be in a private hospital but by God if I were able to pay I would because there are simply no services provided here. The doctors think of themselves as Gods. They are rude, impatient, and insult us at every chance they get”.
We went around the hospital and took some pictures. For instance, the picture below is the wall of the main reception area. It is torn apart, with remnants of previous pamphlets. The floors were bumpy with large cracks and holes. When we asked one of the staff members regarding the wall’s condition, they refused to comment.
Most of the halls where patients were waiting to see doctors were full of people. The rooms were without air conditioner, and this resulted in an overwhelming and overpowering smell of sweat around the room.
The rooms where the blankets for patients are stored was small, with bugs on the floor. The staff member was sitting down with the radio on, a fan and schedule. He allowed us to take a picture, smiling, saying, “We are better organised most of the time”. These blankets are used by patients, and it is a health hazard if they are simply left on the floor. Secondly, instead of providing patients with blankets during the current hot summer weather, they should consider giving them white sheet, stored properly.
Comments
I agree with you in every word, but don’t you realize that our people are not cooperative and instead of trying to improve the situation, they only complain
Yes it’s true and with no hesitation I agree, our ppl means doctors and patents are not educated to give and receive care …. Sorry but it’s a mater of bad education in all aspects we even forgot our basic culture in helping, kindness, .. And thing that we were well known of it as Kurds
All the speech with the arguments are totally accepted and appreciated ,the same picture can be seen in other places all over Iraq with more devastating conditions ! We will remain as we are until the whole health system is changed 180 degrees!! The change should be radical from the core! First of all ,the government (our local KRG ) HAVE TO INSIST TO OBLIGE THE WELL TRAINED SPECIALISTS OF ALL THE MEDICO-SURGICAL FIELDS AMONG THE UNIVERSITY STAFF TO RUN THEIR DUTIES IN ALL THE HOSPITALS AND CAUSALITIES ALL OVER kURDISTAN BY ALTERNATING SHIFTS ,AND ENCOURAGING THEM TO FORGET THEIR AFTERNOON PRIVATE CLINICS !THIS CAN BE ACCOMPLISHED BY GIVING A GOOD MONTHLY SALARY …THUS ,FULL TIME SERVICES WILL BE PROVIDED TO ALL THE PEOPLE WITH NO DIFFERENCES….
I agree withall the comment written by my colleagues in addition to all the substandared services given to our patient by Doctors and nurses and other health team ,there is no communication at all with patient and this is one of very important aspect in patient care and management ,we should work intensively on this aspect and give seminars to all health team regarding all aspect of patient intervention
I’m a medical student ive spent a long time studying in those hospitals, It’s not only the goverment’s fault, our ppl,most of them are not educated enough, they cuss the doctors out, they put all the blame on the doctors and other health care providers..the reason for the hospitals to be in this bad condition is multifactorial everyone should start from himself to make it better or else even the doctors are not satisfied with those hospitals!
the problem is we always blame others for what we cause, I agree there are misbehavior that we doctors should be blamed for, but u cant put all the blame on us , do u think we like to work in junk hospitals , if other ppl come to hospital during a year once or twice, we work daily in it, so who should complain about it!!!!!!!!! and dont u think we do!!! but the problem is nobody listens, u might consider this radical, but am beginning to believe that nobody likes doctors, u know what! may be they are right , I hate me too , being a doctor is like having O -ve blood group , u should help every one and live for them, but if ask for some thing every one says u r a doctor, ur jobe is humanitarian, u cant ask for any thing, u should ask for money , I think what they r trying to tell us, is that we r the new model of slaves, the post modern slaves, that s y I hate myself too , I dont blame them for not being satisfied from our service , coz master never can get enough from his slave, I know that we behave bad in our society but if we were the only thing wrong with it I wouldnt say anything but our society is a mass of wrongness, its the wrong itself, if u think of us doctors as the top of the society and if any body else has his excuse to behave wrong we dont, then I have news 4 u , u got it wrong , we r ur friends and brothers and sisters and children and grandchildren , if we grew up by bad ppl no wonder we r bad. U should make things right from the source not from branches or the SLAVES.
( pardon my rusty english )
Oemed, I absolutely love your perspective and I agree that society has socially constructed certain responsibility and power dynamics that leave people like you vulnerabe to criticism. Things really do come around full circle when it comes to a systems theory. If the system does not function properly and you are treated poorly this will negatively impact your clients. It is unfortunate and I happen to call it the revolving door. The question is “How do we get the revolving door to stop going round and round?”
As a society, how do we come to a place where we hold ourselves accountable rather than becoming dependent on systems and people? It is all very interesting to think about.. I commend you for all your hard work and dedication=) Hold onto hope=)
Priscilla
Hi,one thing we all should never forget is:that all what you commented on was brilliant!!!congratulations but….unfortunately nobody of you dare to replace(change) His/Her speech into action(coz we fear to be fired from our job or our high ranks)……so we will never go on or develop our abilities by just using to speak…as never one gonna get big muscles without goin’ to the gym…what a fake face we wear…solution:take risks and don’t play it safe but do a different do see a different(change) in your society)…And I’m a person full of hope that believe that we wanna change and we gonna get what we wanna receive…God bless doctors of Kurdistan.