Earning Tk 400 to Tk 500 just in five minutes

At present doctors are taking Tk 400 to 500 as fee from each patient. It used to be Tk 300 during the Caretaker Government. We expected that after coming to power the democratic government will reduce doctors' fee, but the fee has increased. It is quite impossible for a day labourer to pay such a high amount of fee to the doctor. Rickshaw pullers, garments workers and other low income earning people all suffer. If they have to go to the doctor's chamber second or third time the situation is worse for them. Sometimes we see that doctors advise the patients to do unnecessary tests. There is hardly any treatment in the government hospitals. Most of the specialised doctors are government servants. The doctors attend patients in their private chambers in the morning, during lunch break and in the afternoon. But the main business starts in the evening and finishes at around 11 p.m. To see a patient, a doctor takes at best 4 to 5 minutes. They are running after money. Some doctors attend around 50 patients a day, but in their record they enlist only 10 patients. The government should take necessary action to reduce doctors fee and take steps in favour of the poor people. Mohammed Jashim Uddin BSS, Dhaka. E-mail : juctg2008@gmail.com