CAIRO: Sixty-year-old Ferdous Mohamed Ali is the new victim of medical neglect. She now suffers from complete paralysis thanks to Kasr Al-Eini Hospital. Ferdous had fallen down the stairs at her building while carrying a gas canister to her apartment, cracking her spine in such a way that it required immediate surgical intervention. The specialist who was assigned as her doctor transferred her to the wrong department, and then the operation that was supposed to target her spine was done via her kidneys. The woman's suspicious were raised when, following the operation, the specialist refused to give her a check up. She transferred herself to the Ahmed Shefiq private hospital and filed a complaint to the Doctor's Syndicate. But all its Ethical Conduct Committee did was request the accused doctor to write a report on her case in order that a second operation could be carried out, correcting the first. However, he refused to write the report. The victim continued to file complaints to Dr Hamdi Al-Sayyed, Syndicate president, in person. Al-Sayyed issued decision number 645975, stating that the second operation should be carried out in Manyal University Hospital. But to no avail, again because the accused doctor didn't file his report on her case. She begged Dr Shefiq, prepared to kiss his feet, if only he'd end her misery by getting her the report and conducting the surgery. He refused, however, accusing of her trying to ruin his carrier, even making the outlandish suggestion that his students should conduct the operation. She turned down the generous offer but agreed to a second suggestion, which was that some visiting doctors, foreigners, should conduct it. She spent two whole days in the hospital waiting for them, only to discover that they had left the country after attending a conference here. She made up her mind after that to leave, but the chief doctor refused to let either her or her husband depart before they had signed a piece of paper saying that she didn't want him to conduct the operation anymore. She consented. She finally contacted the Minister of Health who had her transferred to the Nasr Institute for the operation. But again they wouldn't budge until the original doctor wrote his report. She talked to staff back at the Kasr Al-Eini hospital and they told her the specialist didn't want to write it up to avoid any responsibility for her condition. The Prosecutor is now involved in the case, and has begun to question the doctors at both Kasr Al-Eini and Amed Shafiq hospitals, while Dr Hamdi Al-Sayyed has been called as a witness to the plight of Ferdous Mohammad Ali, who continues to live with total paralysis.
