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AMA WA President Andrew Miller calls for independent inquiry into Aishwarya Aswath’s death

Josh Zimmerman and Sarah StegerThe West Australian
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AMA WA President Andrew Miller has called for an independent inquiry into the death of 7-year-old Aishwarya Aswath.
Camera IconAMA WA President Andrew Miller has called for an independent inquiry into the death of 7-year-old Aishwarya Aswath.

An independent inquiry should be established into the tragic death of a 7-year-old girl made to wait two hours before being treated at Perth Children’s Hospital on Saturday.

That is the opinion of Australian Medical Association (WA) president Andrew Miller, who said a thorough probe examining the circumstances around Aishwarya Aswath’s death was the only way to restore confidence in the public health system.

Aishwarya Aswath died while waiting at the hospital.
Camera IconAishwarya Aswath died while waiting at the hospital. Credit: 9NEWS/9NEWS

“No human could look at this situation and not be devastated,” Dr Miller told 6PR Radio.

“What families need at this time is to know that everything possible was done.

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“Even if the worst outcome was unavoidable here — which is sometimes the case in childhood traumatic illness like this — you need to know that everything possible was done.

“The family did the right thing but the health system didn't see the child in time to be able to reassure them that yes, we did everything we could have for your daughter.”

Dr Miller said it was vital an investigation into what happened to Aishwarya was conducted by someone free of the influence of the Health Department and McGowan Government.

“I would call for an independent inquiry into this and I would want to know whether the people who are running that independent inquiry would be in a position to speak without being filtered through the apparatus of government,” Dr Miller said.

Aswath Chavittupara and his wife Prasitha Sasidharan spoke to 9NEWS on Monday night about the tragedy.
Camera IconAswath Chavittupara and his wife Prasitha Sasidharan spoke to 9NEWS on Monday night about the tragedy. Credit: 9NEWS/9NEWS

He claimed the average waiting time for “non-urgent” category 3 and 4 patients at PCH was 72 minutes on Saturday when Aishwarya presented — 12 minutes above the target of an hour.

Sadly, Aishwarya and her parents were made to wait two hours before she was seen.

Health Minister Roger Cook this morning revealed he would be “seeking an urgent briefing from the department in relation to this horrible, horrible, incident”.

“I’m absolutely shocked... It’s just horrible and we need to get to the bottom of the matter so we can respond in a way that provides the parents with some comfort even though we’ll never be able to replace the loss of a beautiful girl,” Mr Cook told 6PR.

Health Minister Roger Cook.
Camera IconHealth Minister Roger Cook. Credit: Kelsey Reid/The West Australian

“I don’t want to pre-empt any inquiry and it’s important that we take the opportunity to really just sit down and do a careful analysis of what’s happened in this situation.

“(But) it would appear that the deteriorating condition of the girl was overlooked for one reason or another.

“Whenever you have a situation where you see potential clinical failure, you obviously move heaven and earth to understand the root cause of the particular incident and make sure you put measures in place to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.”

Dr Miller accused the McGowan Government of lacking “urgency” in its response to capacity issues in the health system, pointing to escalating ambulance ramping and the cancellation of elective surgeries as clear signs hospitals were under siege.

“If we don't want to pour our resources into anything else in this State we should be pouring it into making sure that children who are urgently sick and unwell, whose parents bring them in to be seen, actually get seen by somebody quickly,” he said.

“(The McGowan Government) just have to be honest that they're not coping well at the moment, and they need to spend more money on it.

“Because unfortunately what happens if you keep denying reality is that tragedies occur.”

Dr Andrew Miller accused the McGowan Government of lacking “urgency” in its response to capacity issues in the health system.
Camera IconDr Andrew Miller accused the McGowan Government of lacking “urgency” in its response to capacity issues in the health system. Credit: Nic Ellis/The West Australian

The Australasian College for Emergency Medicine said it was aware of the “deeply distressing reports” of Aishwarya’s death and that any subsequent investigations needed to “consider the systematic factors contributing to this incident”, including hospital overcrowding.

“For some time now the College has been raising concerns about the major pressures facing Western Australia’s emergency departments, and there are many systemic issues which still need to be resolved,” ACEM President Dr John Bonning said.

“Emergency clinicians have been saying for a long time now that Western Australia’s emergency departments, hospitals and healthcare system are facing extreme and unsustainable pressures for acute patients presenting via EDs.

“These pressures and systemic issues result in situations like ambulance ramping, emergency department crowding and access block - where seriously ill or injured patients cannot be admitted to inpatient beds in the hospital for more definitive care.”

“These are health system-wide issues that manifest in emergency departments, and they are happening state-wide.”

Dr Bonning said it was vital that any investigations into Aishwarya’s case look for the systemic issues that may have contributed to her death as opposed to blaming individuals.

“The focus must be on providing the necessary support to everybody affected, and ensuring that any systemic factors identified – such as hospital overcrowding – as contributing to this tragic outcome by a transparent investigation are addressed immediately,” he said.

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