De-Anne Kelly (Dawson, National Party, Parliamentary Secretary Trade) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Dr Khalifallah became a staff specialist at Mackay Base Hospital in 2004. Dr Raad Almehdi is the Director of Surgery. In July 2005 the credentials committee of the hospital determined that Dr Khalifallah must be supervised during major surgery. Within four weeks he undertook three major surgical cases without supervision, with complications arising. One case, which was to remove a bowel tumour, resulted in faecal matter entering the intestinal cavity. This operation was carried out in direct contravention of the decision of the credentials committee.

In July 2005, the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons expressed serious concern. In September 2005, the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons indicated that it wanted to visit Mackay Base Hospital. Hospital administrators said that this was not necessary, they were carrying out their own internal investigation. This investigation was done by Dr John Hack, the senior surgeon from Townsville Base Hospital. The report has never been sighted.

I was shown a copy of a letter from Mackay Base Hospital in November 2005, written to Dr Khalifallah, which directed him to ‘perform no elective abdominal surgery; perform no emergency abdominal surgery without consulting his surgical superiors; not to book or confirm any such cases’. Subsequently, the hospital reversed their position and told the credentials committee that Dr Khalifallah deserved a second chance on the basis that he could lose his job. Duty of care to patients was overlooked.

In early 2006, the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons wrote to the hospital with reference to Dr Khalifallah. The letter read:

Admitting post-operative complications following surgery.

Dr Khalifallah claimed that a post-operation haematoma from a hydrocele was due to a cow kicking the patient in the stomach, when it was noted within two hours of surgery.

His rate of normal appendicectomies in children was greater than some teaching hospitals.

The letter continues:

Motorbike accident, acute abdominal pain, with patient deteriorating. Dr Khalifallah wanted a CT scan. Had to be talked into operating, where a ruptured spleen was removed.

Seat belt injury. Observed in ICU for 24 hours, and not improving. Dr Khalifallah ordered no further imaging. ICU staff—

who defied the order—

ordered a CT scan and perforation was revealed. Patient required five to six operations.

Patient had a definite bile lead post-operatively as demonstrated by CT scan and liver function test. A blind supra pubic drain was installed in the ward. It should have been done in an operating theatre. The patient had to be transferred to the gastro intestinal unit at Townsville Base Hospital.

The latter case is of great concern. I was shown two cases of the surgical notes. One showed that Dr Khalifallah operated alone. The second had added to it ‘the supervising surgeon was called and attended’. This is false, as a report from the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons states. It is a cover-up by Dr Khalifallah.

The letter from the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons also noted that Dr Khalifallah would ‘shout’ and ‘bully’ other staff and that, in the hospital, Dr Khalifallah and Dr Almehdi communicated with each other in Arabic. Despite all of this, the Director of Surgery, Dr Almehdi, sought to have all of Dr Khalifallah’s rights and privileges restored. On 2 July, he wrote that a ‘broader spectrum of general surgery procedures was to be undertaken in the hospital by Dr Khalifallah’ and that he ‘can start again doing abdominal procedures in the form of elective and emergency cases’.

On 19 July this year, Dr Chris Perry, from the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, wrote to the hospital:

Dr John Hack has raised serious concerns regarding Khalifallah’s surgical competence ... it would be unwise to alter Khalifallah’s current work restriction.

This report was swept under the table. We now know that the opposite happened. This surgeon was allowed to keep operating, unsupervised and with serious consequences which were covered up by the falsification of surgical records. On 30 July, the only surgeon on call at Mackay Base Hospital was Dr Khalifallah. There was a life-threatening situation. I have been told that a patient has been in ICU for four to six weeks as a result of a botched laparoscopy.

Mr Beattie claims to have fixed Queensland Health. Nothing has changed. We see bullied and frightened whistleblowers still coming forward to warn of the potential for another Bundaberg Hospital crisis. Surgeons work unsupervised and beyond their level of competence, and the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons is ignored. There is a toxic system in Queensland Health. Budgets are ruthlessly enforced by the Beattie government, which demands that surgery targets be met. Staff are stretched. There needs to be a full inquiry. As my whistleblowers have said:

Patients are suffering. It’s life-threatening. If it was my brother, father or sister, I would not send them there.

There needs to be an investigation. Mr Beattie has not fixed Queensland Health. The people of Mackay and the rest of Queensland deserve far better.