Doctors fooling people: NHRC

The National Human Rights' Commission (NHRC) Chairman Dr Mizanur Rahman Khan has come down heavily on the physicians, saying they are doing business 'making people fool', reports bdnews24.com. "People do not know about medical procedures. They don't know what to do when in distress. Doctors exploit such situation and do their own business," Dr Rahman said Thursday. Speaking at a city seminar on health rights, he maintained: their (doctors) unethical practices cost huge public money. "Taking advantage of ignorance about medicare, physicians sometimes do Caesarean section [for delivery] even if it is not required. . thus they make us fool," he said. Even poor people are not spared from such malpractice, he observed, calling upon the doctors to be aware of ethics while attending their patients. The chief of the human rights watchdog said they (NHRC) would monitor the health services meant for the poor. "Campaigns will be launched with students to ensure doctors' presence at workplaces," Khan said without elaboration. He suggested the government to bring a change in the medical curricula, incorporating a provision that medical students must stay one month a year in rural areas. After assuming office as the NHRC chairman in June 2010, Khan, a law professor at Dhaka University, vowed to work for establishing basic rights of the poor. At a press briefing in Sept 2010, he said his commission would monitor health facilities for ensuring poor people's medicare. But so far the commission team has made only one visit to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, the country's largest public hospital.