PG medico suspended over alleged triage lapse, Doctors body terms action 'hasty', seeks DMER intervention

Chennai: A postgraduate resident doctor belonging to the Madras Medical College and Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital recently got suspended for allegedly failing to triage a patient according to protocol.

The PG medico is studying in the second year and belongs to the emergency medicine department at RGGGH. Condemning the institute's action of suspending a medico still under training, the Tamil Nadu Medical Officers Association (TNMOA) has urged the Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) to intervene.

Issuing the suspension order to the doctor on November 19, the Dean of Madras Medical College and RGGGH said that the concerned doctor was suspended for seven days for failing to comply with the emergency patient algorithm related to examination and triaging of patients in the receiving area of the casualty department.

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As per the latest media report by The New Indian Express, TNMOA has condemned the action taken by the Dean and termed it as "illogical and hasty". Further, the association has also urged the intervention of the Director of Medical Education and Research and requested the DMER to revoke the suspension order issued by the institute.

The association has demanded for setting up of a fair inquiry panel to ascertain the actual sequence of events.

According to the doctors, suspending a PG medical student, whose training is still incomplete, without establishing supervisory accountability is unwarranted, unfair, and sets a dangerous precedent.

In the statement, the association mentioned, "How can a PG trainee be held solely responsible for the unfortunate death of a patient, when a PG is a student expected to work strictly under supervision."

Commenting on the matter, a senior doctor at the hospital told the daily that the PG doctor, without consulting superiors, shifted the patient from the emergency unit to the ward, where the patient collapsed. In this regard, the concerned senior doctor opined that the PG medico should have consulted a professor or seniors before making this decision.

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