Thursday, December 13, 2012

13-Dec-12: Kafka would certainly be proud: Update on the doctor arrested at Dubai airport

Following on from our post of earlier today ["13-Dec-12: Report from Dubai: making Kafka proud"]:

Legal team of UAE surgeon accused of child death won't get medical files
Abu Dhabi - December 13, 2012: Abu Dhabi Health Services Company [Seha] has refused to disclose key medical files requested by the defence team of a South African doctor accused of the manslaughter of a three-year-old cancer patient. Seha says it cannot release the original hospital file relating to the Yemeni girl's death in October 2002 because doing so would contradict their policy. The legal team of the paediatric oncologist Cyril Karabus say that the original hospital file is vital to proving the professor's innocence, as the case files held by the prosecution are blank during the dates the girl received treatment. At the last hearing in the Criminal Court, on December 6, Chief Justice Idris bin Mansour ordered the public prosecution to request the original files from Sheikh Khalifa Medical City. In court today the professor's lawyer insisted the file was essential to the defence case, adding that "the hospital's policy cannot stand in the way of people's rights". The judge agreed that the original file was needed and ordered the public prosecution to make another attempt in obtaining the file. "If [Seha] refuse again, then we'll see..." he said. He then adjourned the case until December 25 to give prosecutors time to retrieve the file. [more]
Simply outrageous.

How can it be that almost no one knows what is being done to Prof. Cyril Karabus by the Gulf state authorities? Why are people not being told about what can and did happen to this distinguished professor of medicine, a frail man in his late seventies, a traveler passing through Dubai's sparkling and shiny airport? What is it about this scandalous affair that causes newspaper editors everywhere to ignore it? To not report it? 

We wonder whether anyone in Qantas senior management is paying any attention.

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