YOUR GOVERNMENT WILL LOOK AFTER YOU

They are so desperate to get staff for their public hospitals that they will be hiring Rover the dog as a doctor next. No wonder they are running a big coverup

Nurses at Bundaberg Base Hospital were asked to "hide" patients so they would not be treated by a Pakistan-trained doctor dubbed "Dr Death" by colleagues. The doctor, who has fled the country since the beginning of an investigation into his work at the public hospital, has been accused of gross incompetence linked to the deaths of at least 14 patients.

But Health Minister Gordon Nuttall will keep secret a report detailing evidence about the deaths and a trail of serious injuries suffered by patients at Bundaberg Base Hospital. The report, by Chief Health Officer Gerry Fitzgerald, includes evidence gained from interviews with doctors and nurses at the hospital.

Queensland Health medical sources described the doctor, hired more than two years ago under the controversial overseas-trained doctors scheme, as "dangerous and incompetent". They said his actions had been extremely harmful, and in some cases lethal, to more than 14 patients and were an indictment of the health system for its failure to respond to complaints two years ago. Patients who have been harmed, and the relatives of those who have died, are demanding an explanation from Queensland Health about the doctor's proficiency and conduct.

The Courier-Mail has been told of how at least one specialist at the hospital was so concerned he pleaded with nurses to "hide" his patients in various wards to prevent them being seen by the doctor.

But Mr Nuttall and director-general Dr Steve Buckland yesterday went to Bundaberg Base Hospital to tell a confidential staff meeting that the evidence gathered by Queensland Health in relation to the doctor's conduct would not be made available. They admonished staff for leaking some of the evidence, which embarrassed Mr Nuttall because it was revealed in State Parliament last month before he was aware that an investigation by his own Chief Health Officer was under way.

The doctor, whose Queensland Medical Board registration lapsed last week, quit his job and left Australia at Easter, days after the concerns were made public. Mr Nuttall told staff that as the doctor had left Australia, the report on his conduct could not be fully completed and that any issues raised would be dealt with at a district level. But a senior medical source described this as "an outrageous cop-out and an insult to everyone who ever underwent surgery by (the doctor)". He said it was "a shocking attempt to play down the seriousness" of evidence gathered by Dr FitzGerald, who interviewed a number of doctors and nurses and scrutinised patient notes and previous written complaints.

Mr Nuttall refused to be interviewed by The Courier-Mail, but his spokesman David Potter said the minister had "not seen any report and he would not expect to get it because the doctor has left the service. He has probably been updated on it". "It can't be completed without going back to the doctor and, obviously, we can't go back to him because he has packed up and gone," Mr Potter said.

Bundaberg Base Hospital executives were accused in Parliament of failing to properly and urgently address a number of serious complaints two years ago by staff who were alarmed at the rate of complications, deaths and injuries after the doctor's surgery. State Parliament was told one of the hospital staff had been traumatised "because I've watched patients die, and I feel that every time I see him walk into the unit, I feel sick because I think, who's he going to kill now".

A Queensland Health report leaked to The Courier-Mail in late 2003 warned that a growing number of overseas doctors rushed into Queensland public hospitals lacked "medical competence and capability" and were putting patients and the community at risk. Senior doctors in the public and private sector have repeatedly warned that Queensland Health, the Federal Government and the Medical Board of Queensland were compromising public safety by failing to check the clinical skills of imported doctors. Registration boards and the state and federal governments have relaxed standards for checking the competence of imported doctors, some of whom have highly questionable clinical skills and difficulty in communicating in English.

Source

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For greatest efficiency, lowest cost and maximum choice, ALL hospitals and health insurance schemes should be privately owned and run -- with government-paid vouchers for the very poor and minimal regulation.

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