Imprisonment Awaiting Misconduct Staff at 'Ashrafi Isfahani' Hospital

Yousef Karimi, the deputy prosecutor of Khomeini Shahr in Isfahan, announced that a doctor and a nurse at the 'Ashrafi Isfahani' hospital in Khomeini Shahr have been found guilty of 'failure to perform their duties' and face imprisonment of six months to three years according to the law. According to Mehr News Agency, Mr. Karimi made these statements on Wednesday (December 9). He stated that in the case, the crime of the doctor and nurse regarding a four-year-old child from Khomeini Shahr is noted as 'failure to perform their duty of attending to the injured,' and 'according to the law, a prison sentence of six months to three years' is considered for this crime. Following the Ministry of Health's follow-up, the case of Sadra Zahedpour, a boy whose chin stitches were opened on December 7 due to his parents' inability to pay hospital fees, was ordered by the doctor and carried out by the nurse at the Ashrafi Isfahani hospital in Isfahan, is under review by the judiciary. Although the offending doctor had previously claimed that he jokingly wanted the stitches of the four-year-old's chin to be opened, the deputy prosecutor of Khomeini Shahr announced that his crime has been proven. The nurse responsible for attending to this child also claimed that 'the stitches' were opened elsewhere. Yousef Karimi also stated that the offending doctor and nurse are currently free on 'bail' and both have been 'suspended from work.' The state news agency IRNA reported on December 6 that the suspects were sent to the police detention center after being informed of their charges by a judicial authority for further investigations. Rasul Bani Hashemi, the head of the Medical Council of Khomeini Shahr, also announced the possibility of a one to two-year prison sentence and suspension and revocation of work for the suspects in this case. Mr. Bani Hashemi added that the suspension and revocation of work will be executed based on Article 20 of the Medical System Law for the suspects in this incident. He identified the suspects in the case as three individuals, including a doctor, a nurse, and a supervisor. Bani Hashemi also reported sending 18 cases to the Medical Council of Khomeini Shahr this year that may be 'worse and larger' than the case of Sadra Zahedpour. According to him, the only difference was that these cases were 'handled away from media noise,' and the Isfahan University of Medical Sciences should have handed the matter over to the Medical Council of Khomeini Shahr and not intervened. It seems that the media coverage of the misconduct of the medical staff at the Ashrafi Isfahani hospital in Khomeini Shahr has caused dissatisfaction within the Medical Council of the city. The ISNA news agency also reported the dismissal of the management staff and the head of the Ashrafi Isfahani hospital in Khomeini Shahr due to 'misconduct' and the appointment of an interim manager for this hospital. According to the Health Transformation Plan, treatment costs in public hospitals in cities are six percent, and in rural centers, three percent, and hospitals are required to accept all emergency patients, even those unable to pay this three percent. Based on this directive, when this child visited the hospital, emergency services should not have been conditional on payment and providing a receipt. Previously, ISNA quoted Mohammad Aghajani, the deputy for treatment at the Ministry of Health, stating that following misconduct at the Ashrafi hospital in Khomeini Shahr, it was decided in a meeting with senior officials of Isfahan University that 'the officials of Khomeini Shahr hospital should be dismissed from their positions and serious warnings were given to security, inspection, and some other officials of the university.' Mr. Aghajani had traveled to Isfahan at the direction of Hassan Qazizadeh Hashemi, the Minister of Health, to investigate the incident at the Ashrafi Isfahani hospital.