Editorial | Medical Council must handle all complaints fairly and promptly
The watchdog’s decision to throw out a case against a paediatrician following an 8-year delay is unfair to all parties involved
The Medical Council, the doctors’ self-regulation and disciplinary body, has had its fair share of criticism over delays and protecting interests in handling complaints from patients and their families. The latest controversy involved its decision to order a stay of proceedings against Sit Sou-chi, who was accused of a medical blunder involving a baby born in Baptist Hospital in late 2009.
The inquiry was originally scheduled to begin in 2016, but was postponed at the request of Sit to review new evidence. He was charged with allegedly failing to perform necessary and immediate examinations or applying treatment – a delay of 3½ hours following the newborn’s epileptic seizure – which later resulted in cerebral palsy and quadriplegia, leaving the child unable to care for himself for life.
Accompanied by a patient’s group, the child’s parents, from the mainland, said the council’s secretariat had failed to set a new date until they renewed pressure with a press conference and legal representation last year. But when a hearing was finally set in October, the council ruled that Sit could not get a fair trial as the proceedings had been delayed for 8½ years without explanation. The lack of a verdict is not only unfair to the parents and child; it is arguably also not in the interest of the accused, who could have otherwise sought to clear his name via a timely and fair hearing.
The government has set the right tone by requesting that the council provide an account on the mechanism for handling complaint investigations and disciplinary inquiries, and to review and introduce improvement recommendations in light of the case.
Following reforms in 2018, the Medical Council has handled over 8,700 complaints in the past five years, with cases taking an average of 27 months to process. But while the average time for processing a disciplinary inquiry case also dropped, from six years to an average of 3.5 years, the latest case shows justice can still be delayed and denied.