I refer to an article published by Stabroek News (SN) on March 16, 2010 captioned ‘Council investigating doctor for alleged “incomplete” surgery’ and the many comments that followed the article. SN proceeded to publish an article which was clearly intended to bring me into public odium and ridicule without first having received my comment and without seeing the complaint made to the Medical Council.
Firstly, the public has a right to know that Mr Duryodhan Jaikaran’s complaint to the Medical Council differed substantially from what he and his family allegedly told SN. His letter to the Medical Council did not contain any complaint of medical negligence against me. His complaint was merely of a financial nature. In fact when Mr Jaikaran first came to my clinic, his complaint was that he went to the Public Hospital and was told by a doctor that the hernia procedure could not be done there but could be done at a private hospital for $80,000.
He said he was poor and could not afford that price and he beseeched me to do the procedure for him. I agreed to do the procedure for $40,000.
To date the Medical Council cannot present me with the charge of medical negligence, despite the fact that two letters were written to them on my behalf requesting same.
There was never any negligence. There was never any complaint of negligence. There was no charge of negligence. The Medical Council however made findings which displayed an inordinate lack of familiarity with law, medicine and medical jurisprudence.
I trust that SN will now fully investigate this matter and not only offer me a public apology but also correct the newspaper report. I reserve the right to do whatever is necessary if SN refuses to fully investigate and rectify the problem.
Yours faithfully,
Dr Ganesh ShivKumar Shiva
Editor’s note
We attempted to contact Dr Shiva before the report was published, but were not successful. We did, however, manage to make contact with him after the story appeared, and he refused to speak to us.
We also tried to speak to more than one member of the Medical Council, but again, our efforts were in vain.
Mr Jaikaran has told us that he dictated his letter addressed to the Medical Council to someone, and that its contents reflected what he subsequently said to our reporter.
