Of fake doctors, tall medical degrees and patients' safety

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Shamsul Huq Zahid An individual (identity is not mentioned here, deliberately) used to work as a watch repairman even four years back. But he now uses the word 'doctor' before his name claiming himself to be a specialist surgeon. And to make his claim credible he uses after his name a number of known and unknown medical degrees such as MBBS, PGT (medicine and paediatrics), CMSC, FWT (Delhi). The impostor doctor has been doing medical practice from his chamber located at Moghultuly Bazaar of the port city of Chittagong. This was how a front page story, published in a Bengali national daily last Tuesday, on fake doctors in Chittagong began. It was claimed in the report that more than one thousand fake doctors have been doing flourishing medical practice in the port city since long. The report in the Bengali daily was published as a follow-up one after the arrest of eight fake doctors in Chittagong a few days back. The arrest of so many fake doctors by the law enforcers in one-go, obviously, drew a lot of readers' interest. But what appeared more interesting to them must be the use of tall medical degrees by these impostors after their names. Some of the degrees in fact are non-existent and some are their own 'invention'. The members of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) a couple of months back arrested a doctor from a clinic in Dhaka. The man in question was engaged in the act of impersonating a doctor for the last 20 years. He had been arrested once earlier but that could not deter him from doing the same mischief again. Quacks have been doing unauthorised medical practice for decades in this country. However, not all quacks are engaged in this kind of job wilfully. In fact, they develop a kind of skill of suggesting medicines -- this at times turns out to be a highly dangerous act -- while working at the medical stores and pharmacies. In violation of laws, most pharmacies employ people who do not have necessary qualifications. Mainly poor and low income people go to pharmacies and seek remedies to all types of ailments from people working at drug stores. And suggestions come instantly for reasons of business. When the authorities concerned have never made any serious attempt to stop the sale of drugs and medicines barring the over-the-counter ones without prescription, the poor and the people of small means would continue to seek medical suggestions from the drug store employees. And under the present socio-economic context that is not by any means a big deal, notwithstanding the risks involved in such unauthorised practices. But the fake doctors, who use all the known and unknown medical degrees after their names, pose a serious threat to patients and professional integrity of genuine medical practitioners. It is suspected that the number of fake doctors has increased manifold across the country with the emergence of more and more health facilities in the private sector. The fake doctors usually operate from their own chamber or healthcare facilities to avoid their registration and other certificates being checked by the employers. The Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council (BMDC), the watchdog for medical profession, has not only failed utterly to monitor activities of genuine medical professionals but also to stop fake doctors from becoming a serious threat to safety and security of patients. The BMDC Act-2010 has a provision to punish a fake doctor with a maximum of three years' imprisonment or a fine of Tk. 100,000 or with both. Though the punishment appears to be a soft one considering the gravity of the crime, the BMDC does hardly make any move to locate fake doctors and use that provision against them. Like many of its kind in the country, the BMDC is considered a 'toothless tiger' that prefers to ignore even serious lapses on the part of registered medical graduates. The most horrendous part of the episode involving fake doctors is that they often carry out major surgeries, putting the life of their patients at serious risk. There are a large number of small clinics that are run by the fake doctors and unqualified medical technicians and nurses. Instances are galore where attendants at the clinics perform small surgeries or deliveries under very unhygienic conditions. The middle class and affluent sections of people do not have to take the services of quacks, fake doctors or shabby health clinics. Despite being a serious one the issue is yet to receive due attention from the authorities concerned, largely because it only involves the poor and low income people who do hardly have access to, and support of, any redress mechanism. But that certainly should not be the case. [email protected]