Durban - “I never laid a hand on her.”
These were the words of a Durban doctor who is facing allegations of verbally abusing and assaulting a patient’s grandmother last July.
Ear, nose and throat specialist Dr Niven Singh was testifying before the Health Professions Council of SA in uMhlanga on Thursday. He is facing an allegation of unprofessional conduct.
The complainant, Thaivanamal Naidoo, reported Singh to the council after an altercation at Life Mount Edgecombe Hospital last year.
Naidoo, who is partially disabled, had taken her 2-year-old grandson to see Singh, accompanied by a friend, Ronitha Ramraj.
In her testimony last month, Naidoo said Singh asked her questions about the boy’s mother, Pooveshni, in a “rude and belittling tone, but I took exception when he implied my daughter was a mental case”.
The altercation is alleged to have escalated when Singh threw the money she had paid in advance in her direction, scattering it on the floor.
On Thursday Ramraj said Singh also “forcefully grabbed her (Naidoo) by the arm and flung her out of his consultation rooms and she fell”.
Singh conceded that there was a disagreement between him and the women but disputed that he shouted at them or that he threw Naidoo out of his room.
“I was not calm, I was angry inside, but I did not touch her. After she terminated the consultation I gave her the R500 she had paid and she screamed at me, calling me a useless doctor. I opened the door for them to leave and that’s when she bumped against me. She slipped and fell.”
Singh admitted he did not help her up as “she had her friend with her and someone was also coming from the other (doctors’) rooms to help, so I just closed the door”.
He said he apologised to Naidoo at a mediation meeting held by hospital management last year.
“I apologised for the unhappy experience she had in my rooms, but that… did not mean I was at fault.”
The council’s advocate, Meshack Mapholisa, questioned Singh about why the diagnosis of the boy was never recorded in his clinical notes which were presented to the council.
“At the end of this I’m going to argue that you never treated the baby as Mrs Naidoo and Mrs Ramraj testified.
“You also allowed a sick patient to walk out of your rooms without getting treatment because you took exception to the grandmother’s attitude,” said Mapholisa.
He asked Singh about his practice’s policy towards patients paying in advance and dealing with patients terminating consultations.
Singh responded that Naidoo offered to pay up front and he did not have a policy for the latter.
His secretary is expected to testify today on why Naidoo paid before her grandson was treated.
A member of the hospital management will also give testimony about the mediation that took place after the incident.
The Mercury