Dr Ayman Hassan with his late wife Dr Khulod Maarouf.By Rebecca Fraser
THE stabbing death of a well-respected Narre Warren GP has prompted a new range of safety measures to better protect doctors.
On Sunday, 17 September, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) joined with their colleagues and families to pay tribute to slain mother of three Khulod Maarouf, at a Victorian branch commemorative gala dinner.
Dr Maarouf, 51, died in June, at a medical centre in Chandler Road, Noble Park, where she had worked for the past two years.
Her horrific death sent shock waves through the medical profession and prompted the college to recommend a new range of safety precautions that will help train doctors on how to manage violent patients.
The precautions include training courses for GPs and staff to help doctors recognise and manage difficult patients in a bid to prevent and control violent situations within their practice.
The college recommends that practices conduct safety audits and doctors have been advised to install security counters that are wide enough to prevent a patient reaching across them easily as well as adequate lighting, panic buttons and even security surveillance.
Two of Dr Maarouf’s three daughters, husband Ayman Hassan, and other family, friends and colleagues from the Noble Park practice attended Sunday’s dinner and celebrated her life with a moving tribute.
Dr Maarouf would have received a top award from the college during the night’s proceedings if she had been alive and instead her husband accepted a fellowship of the college on her behalf.
Dr Hassan said this week it was great to see his wife recognised, and to see the outpouring of compassion from the medical profession.
“It was good to see her recognised by the service she paid for with her life,” he said.
Dr Hassan said his family was coping as well as they could with the loss but their grief was like an open chapter that would never close.
His wife’s death had touched people from right across Australia and he had received a flood of emails and letters from people expressing their sympathy, and from GPs speaking of violent incidents they had endured.
Dr Leanne Rowe, chairwoman of the RACGP’s Victoria Faculty said that at the time of Dr Maarouf’s death there was an enormous outpouring of grief from the medical profession.
“Khulod’s death has been a catalyst for the whole profession and we are working towards new guidelines on safety for patients, practice staff and general practitioners,” she said.
Samuel Benjamin, 26, of Springvale, has been charged with Dr Maarouf’s murder.
He is scheduled to appear in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, 11 October.
