Want to be an orthopaedic surgeon? You need not have to enrol with a public medical college on the basis of excellent scores in the SSC and HSC results and of course the minimum required score in the medical admission test. If you are not lucky enough, why bother about getting admission to a private medical college either and spend pots of money your parents may or may not have managed so easily. Honest parents though have a tough time to make provision for the fabulous amount required for private medical education.
There is no need for such anxiety and arduous preparation for medical profession. Just a fish vendor's background would do. If a fish vendor-not to confuse with a fisherman - who can barely scribble one half of his name from Khulna can straightway don the mantle of an orthopaedic surgeon, there is every possibility of your succeeding in the medical trade. What you will need is just a drill machine from a hardware shop (mind it, there is no need even for procuring one such piece of medical accessories of foreign origin) to bore the bones for hanging limbs by slings -a usual practice when accident victims suffer bone displacement or broken bones.
Well, this 'specialised specialist' was hired by his brother-in-law (they married sisters of a family), an anaesthetist and director of a hospital. With just a SSC certificate to his credit, this man was able to manage the licence for a 30-bed general hospital at a very advantageous position on Babar Road near the country's number one orthopaedic hospital. He served as a manager to private hospitals and assistant to doctors and learnt some of the tricks of anaesthesia.
Now the duo played the role of an anaesthetist and a surgeon. To say this is mind-boggling is to make an understatement. That they could continue their vile medical practice speaks volumes of the entire health sector. How could the fellow manage a licence? Is the directorate of health blind enough not to see anything? Well, it sees more things than common people do. After all, the directorate does not distribute grace for nothing. More than anyone else, the men at the directorate must be made to account for this medical malpractice and crime. Unless they were a party to this aberration, such dubious characters cannot procure licences in the first place.
Next comes the question of running the medical business around the National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation popularly known as Pangu hospital. Most of the private health facilities for treatment of orthopaedic patients have taken the formula of catching patients to the form of an art. For example, the hospital this duo of quacks managed reportedly had one and a half dozens of middlemen who waylaid patients just in front of the orthopaedic hospital. Once they could persuade the attendants of a patient to get their patient admitted to their hospital, they were given a fee of Tk 500. Of course, they were given a small share of the inflated bills patients were made to pay.
Now this is an open secret that patients are virtually hijacked by threat or persuasion from in front of the orthopaedic hospital. Why cannot this be stopped once for all? Unless physicians and employees of this hospital are involved, this malpractice cannot continue for a single day. Well, the general hospital the two fellows ran also had an on-call genuine orthopaedic physician when the case was complex. One wonders, how can a physician worth any dignity associate himself/herself with such medical malpractice?
These are areas that need to be plugged in first. A police officer stated that there is no law to deal with the medical middlemen or persuaders. This is just an excuse. Underhand deals of varying nature have left open loopholes for these pimps-like people to manoeuvre. Let there be an end to such practice of making the most of human misery. After all, at stake is a patient writhing with pain and suffering the agony of maltreatment. The way bones of the accident victims were bored with drill machines sends a chilling sensation down one's spine. The after-effects should range from permanent handicap to death. Allowing this to happen is a heinous crime and should be made punishable accordingly.
Medical malpractice at its worst
Nilratan Halder | Published: April 19, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00
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