Bacchus Marsh doctor Surinder Parhar breaks silence

THE Bacchus Marsh doctor at the centre of a horrifying baby death scandal has broken his silence, saying “we did the best under the circumstances”.

Surinder Parhar

THE Bacchus Marsh doctor at the centre of a horrifying scandal which has seen at least seven babies die in avoidable circumstances has broken his silence, saying “no system is perfect”.

Speaking to the Herald Sun last Friday, Dr Surinder Parhar blamed the pressures of a booming population, staffing issues and GPs referring pregnancies to his hospital for findings that babies had needlessly died while he was head of Bacchus Marsh and Melton Regional Hospital’s obstetrics unit.

His comments come as the Herald Sun can reveal dozens of new complaints have been lodged by Bacchus Marsh patients which are now being investigated by Victoria’s Health Services Commissioner.

The probes come as a separate Department of Health commissioned investigation examines deaths in the maternity unit dating back to 2001 amid fears the seven avoidable tragedies so far identified may be only the tip of the iceberg.

Last October the Herald Sun revealed an investigation into the hospital’s maternity services found seven of 11 stillborn or newborn deaths in 2013 and 2014 might have been avoidable.

But Dr Parhar — who was in charge of the maternity unit for the past 30 years — denied responsibility, claiming he did his best under difficult circumstances until he was removed last June when authorities uncovered a cluster of suspect infant deaths.

Surinder Parhar. Picture: Mark Stewart

“From my point of view we did the best under the circumstances,” Dr Parhar told the Herald Sun.

“It was a growing area, we had the staffing (issues) and whatnot. No system is perfect, we provided a service and that is all I can say.

“We provide a service and, if that is not good enough, other people can judge.”

The Herald Sun is not suggesting Dr Parhar was directly involved in the deaths.

It is believed Dr Parhar may only have been the doctor directly in charge of care for one of the seven grieving women at the time when her baby died, though he says he cannot recall how many of the tragic cases he was present for.

Investigations have focused on why Dr Parhar’s unit routinely allowed high-risk pregnancies to be inappropriately accepted for care in his low-care maternity service, rather than referring them to specialist hospitals where babies could be delivered safely.

When asked if he believed complex pregnancies were inappropriately treated under his watch, Dr Parhar said questions needed to be asked of the region’s general practitioners.

“The best people to talk to are other GPs in the area, because they have a better medical understanding,” Dr Parhar said.

“At the end of the day, they had a choice to refer to anywhere in the world, but they referred to the system, and to me at Bacchus Marsh hospital.

“If they thought we were not providing a good service they would not have referred to us.”

Believing his been treated as a public scapegoat for the scandal since it was exposed by the Herald Sun last October, Dr Parhar said he did not have any messages for families told by the Department of Health that their babies had died needlessly, instead stating: “that is between the department and the families.

“I have finished my working life.”

Health Services Commissioner Grant Davies said he could not disclose details of issues raised by patients or which areas of a hospital’s service they relate to, but confirmed his office was flooded with concerns about the Bacchus Marsh hospital since the scandal became public.

Victorian Health Services Commissioner Grant Davies.

“We have had dozens of inquiries and we have assigned a fulltime conciliator to work through the complaints,” Mr Davies said.

The mother of one of the 11 babies whose deaths at Bacchus Marsh triggered the investigations said Dr Parhar seemed complacent and wasn’t nurturing or caring at all during her treatment.

“When we lost our baby’s heartbeat, he just matter of factly said ‘your baby is dead’, then turned and walked away,” she said.

“He had a duty of care to look after us but he didn’t. Just like everyone caught up in this, I need answers and we deserve answers. We need closure.”

Maurice Blackburn lawyer Dimitra Dubrow, who is representing the families of children who died at Bacchus Marsh, said Dr Parhar needed to answer for his role as the head of the obstetric unit.

“He had a leadership role and cannot now simply shift the blame elsewhere. If there were any issues that Dr Parhar now identifies as reasons for these tragic events, such as resourcing and extra demands being put on the hospital, or about high-risk patients being referred to Bacchus Marsh instead of other hospitals by GPs, he should have raised them with the Hospital, the board and the Health Department,” she said.

In a statement following Dr Parhar’s interview, Djerriwarrh Health Service, which operated the hospital, reiterated that it’s maternity unit previously “operated beyond the scope of its capability”.

“There were gaps in skills and training, and a multi-system failure to recognise and act on early warning signs,” the health service said.

“Under new leadership, this is no longer the case.”

Surinder Parhar. Picture: Mark Stewart

Health Minister Jill Hennessy said the tragedies came amid a series of cascading clinical and governance failures.

“What became clear during the investigation was that due to failures in clinical governance and oversight, warning signs were not picked up or acted upon as they should have been.

“Concerns about the quality of clinical care being provided were not properly investigated as they should have been, despite internal reviews undertaken by senior clinical staff.”

Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency — which last year restricted Dr Parhar’s medical registration over concerns of his treatment of a 2013 patient — said it could not disclose details of its investigation into events surrounding numerous medical staff at Bacchus Marsh.

“Our investigations are continuing and there is nothing more important than making sure these continue to be thorough and fair,” an AHPRA statement said.

As well as Dr Parhar’s departure, the hospital’s board was sacked in the wake of the scandal while CEO Bruce Marshall was among a handful of senior staff who also departed after the extent of peri-natal deaths came to light.

As revealed by the Herald Sun last year, the hospital’s new administrator Dr John Ballard said incidents reported to Mr Marshall may have been inappropriately categorised at a lower level and were therefore never forwarded to authorities for closer scrutiny, denying chances to avoid further tragedies.

It was also found Bacchus Marsh Hospital had been operating without a safety committee and instead risk warnings were sent directly to the CEO who did not always pass them on to the board.

Health Services Commission Grant Davies confirmed his office had to appoint a conciliator just to deal with Bacchus Marsh complaints high volume of complaints about the service.