Algeria : 500 lawsuits filed against doctors for professional misconduct

The vice – chairman of the national deontology doctors’ council Kessab Mustapha has firmly hit out against the practice of medicine by some foreign doctors in Algerian private clinics during the week – ends and during the latter’s tourist stay in Algeria, labelling it as an illegal phenomenon.

He said that such illegal practises by venal doctors should be checked with all the rigour of the law as they pose a serious threat to the patients’ health in case of a medical blunder.

He also indicated that doctors’ professional misconduct has increased over the past few years in Algeria owing to several factors.

He added that up to 500 lawsuits had been filed by patients against doctors in the past 2 years on charges of professional misconduct at the national level.

40% of these complaints, he said, were lodged with the relevant authorities in the eastern part of the country.

Kessab seized this opportunity to appeal to practising doctors to strictly abide by the professional code of ethics, beyond all other considerations, in a bid to overt any drift which could lead to a damaging legal wrangle with their disgruntled patients.