Three-year-old Raifa Khan died after suffering convulsion at Max Hospital of Chattogram on June 29. Her family members alleged that she was given the wrong treatment that caused her death. As the incident led to protests by public, some medical practitioners even made statements that they will not treat children of journalists if need be (Raifa's father is the Chattogram correspondent of Dainik Samakal). As the protests continued, a three-member probe committee investigated into the allegations and found them to be true. The probe report findings, published in the media on July 07, drove the Rapid Action Battalion to conduct drives at three hospitals including Max Hospital in the port city. A number of different irregularities were found by RAB for which Max Hospital was fined Tk 1.0 million. On the other hand, Max hospital authorities had fired the two doctors who were found to be 'negligent'. But following the raid, the private clinic owners and doctors have stopped providing services to patients protesting the raid by RAB. This forced some families to shift their patients from the private hospitals. Around mid-day of July 09, the strike was postponed. It seems like as if the private clinics, their owners and their doctors are above all laws even if they are involved in irregularities and medical negligence. I hope that concerned authorities from the government will look into this matter. Also, more public hospitals in the port city can help the patients there.
Akib Babu,
Indira Road, Dhaka
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