It now appears to be a consistent phenomenon. A life lost due to apparent negligence on the part of physicians at a private hospital and the ire taken out on the institution premises. Whether those arrested (obviously the physicians in question) will ever have their day in court and some form of justice will be meted out is doubtful. More than a year ago headline grabbing visuals of a mother in utter distress over the loss of her child due to 'negligent treatment' brought lumps to everyone's throats but the day in court remains an enigma. In fact it is difficult to even recall a case whereby a physician was ever taken to task for negligence, the closest having been a gynaecologist against whom the case could never be proved beyond doubt simply because testimony by the physician fraternity was never strong enough.
The citizens' charter concept introduced during the caretaker government days in government and public sector organisations are still to be found hanging in their pride of place, immaterial whether they have succeeded in doing what was promised: provide the service that was promised. The charter was a good beginning but lost out by way of follow-up. Where should the citizen go if he or she is aggrieved? Private hospitals and institutions are coming under fire, maybe understandably so. But the fact remains that in the absence of structured and well-defined processes by which such institutions should function does not leave hapless patients with any recourse.
With even the larger and big-investment driven hospitals no less under the microscope, even leading luminaries of society have their doubts about utilising these facilities unless they absolutely have to.
So what does one make of the slowness of justice in penalising an errant and irresponsible pharmaceutical company that used dubious inputs for children syrup resulting in death and kidney-damage among a number of our future citizens? Why such cases can not be referred to speedy trial courts is another question. In the meantime, standards and checks to prevent such medication entering the markets isn't working judging by the headlines made recently of medicines being produced in residences.
Pharmacies that dispense medicine cannot escape responsibility either. They have a role to check on the source of the medicines that so-called medical 'representatives' come to peddle. What seems dastardly is that registered medical practitioners are actually prescribing such medication apparently without checking up on the company background and allegedly in exchange for money.
There will no doubt be other action by the law-enforcing agencies to uncover such illegal medicine peddlers. What is required is action to prevent them from getting their products distributed.
(The writer can be reached at mahmudrahman@gmail.com)
Weak medicine
FE Team | Published: November 13, 2010 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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