One day, it had suddenly dawned on Ratan Krishna Majumder, a fish trader, operating reportedly at Mathbaria of Pirojpur district (some newspapers, however, mentioned Khulna city as his place of business operation), that the job of an orthopaedic surgeon would be far rewarding for him than dealing in tasty Hilsha fish.
However, Ratan had reasons to make such an aspiration. His brother in law, Babul Chandra Paik, owned an orthopaedic hospital at Mohammadpur of Dhaka city.
Babul, who is an SSC certificate holder, decided to give Ratan a chance to change his luck. But he did not allow his brother-in-law to take up surgery straightway soon after his 'auspicious' entry into the medical profession. He advised him (Ratan) to gather experience by working as an 'assistant' in the operation theatre. Ratan obliged.
After some days, according to reports published in national dailies last Sunday, two in-laws started operating on orthopaedic patients in the absence of only one qualified doctor available with the specialized hospital.
The number of patients becoming crippled for life because of such 'quack' surgeons is not known. But one piece of news would surely send shivers down the spines of all qualified orthopaedic surgeons world over is that the duo in question without any hesitation had used household drill machines on patients needing holes in the major bones during the surgery. Besides, the clinic under Babul's ownership had no modern medical equipment. What it only had was a very old and outdated x-ray machine.
In fact, some 'dalals' (middlemen), operating within the premises of the government orthopaedic hospital at Shaymoli, used to arrange uneducated patients for the Babul's six-year old clinic in exchange for certain fees.
A magistrate, accompanied by a team of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB)-2 team, raided the 50-bed hospital, named, National Care General Hospital at Babar Road, Mohammadpur, caught hold of the two in-laws and sentenced them to suffer one-year imprisonment and pay a fine of over Tk 100,000 each. Such middlemen and a section of unscrupulous doctors and employees of the state-owned orthopaedic hospital are, allegedly, involved in encouraging patients to go to private orthopaedic hospitals and clinics that have mushroomed in nearby places in Mohammadpur and Shaymoli.
The detection of hospitals and clinics, run by quacks, often hit newspaper headlines. These are found in greater numbers in areas where the poor and the lower middle class live. The reason can be understood well; these people can be easily deceived.
But official actions against quacks and ill-equipped and ill-managed hospitals and clinics are highly inadequate. Such inaction, in most cases, has encouraged others to indulge in unfair and unethical business, capitalizing on human sufferings.
The incident, however, exposed yet again the state of affairs with health administration. How could the relevant authorities give permission to a 50-bed specialized hospital virtually without medical equipment and qualified physicians?
Investigations would surely reveal that the owner concerned had submitted papers showing all the necessary equipment in his possession and the names of a good number of qualified doctors engaged in his hospital. But did the authorities make any physical inspection or conduct any periodic check-up?
How the permission comes and why the people concerned do no bother to make on-the-spot visit to see the actual situation prevailing in the approved hospitals and clinics can be anybody's guess. Money talks in directorate of health like many other government offices.
The directorate of health services and others concerned may cite hundreds of reasons, including shortage of manpower, resources and legal lacunae, for its failure to discharge its duties and responsibilities properly. They arguments might also appear convincing to many.
But the question is: Is the directorate employing its available resources to stop unfair trade with human miseries? Or, is it sincere enough to take actions against fraudulent practices in medical business or profession?
If a 50-bed specialized hospital can operate in the heart of the Dhaka city virtually without qualified doctors and the minimum medical equipment, one can assume the situation in other districts and semi-urban areas. In that case, no volume of argument, whatsoever, would be enough to justify the failure on the part of the relevant government agencies.
Moreover, the existing legal provisions in the case of meting out punishment to the fake doctors and to others involved in fraudulent activities in the medical profession appear to be inadequate. Those need to be updated to ensure due punishment to the wrongdoers.
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Spectacular switchover!
Shamsul Huq Zahid | Published: April 16, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00
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