Missing ethics in medical care
Friday, 23 April 2010
It is an open secret that many doctors have an understanding with the numerous diagnostic centres that have cropped up in the country. Many of these so-called diagnostic centres are not even properly registered or have licenses. Even those which have registration and licenses can be found on close examination to be seriously deficient in having properly trained and qualified doctors, technicians and other support staff. But incredibly they are successful in evading any kind of oversight from the authorities whose job should be to regulate such deceitful and risky operations.
It is alleged that some unscrupulous doctors have underhand deals with some spurious diagnostic centres. These doctors are prone to recommending such centres of their choice to patients. For every recommendation a part of the fee charged is reserved for the recommending doctor. Therefore, the temptation on the part of the doctors is to recommend a long list of tests for a single patient though only a few tests could be required. The patients can be doubly harmed from taking out tests in diagnostic centres of dubious value in the first place or even if they are recommended to centres with acceptable standards, from the compulsion to carry out unnecessary tests there.
The fee of a doctor with the basic MBBS degree for consultation in ordinary cases of cold, influenza, etc., should not be more than Taka 50. But the MBBS doctors in most cases are seen charging for writing out a prescription for, say, common cold, not less than one hundred Taka. Some take a greater amount whilst the minimum consultation fee for a specialist doctor these days is Taka 500. Hardly there are regulations in this field and doctors' consultation fees are rising higher and higher all the time at the cost of their hapless patients.
Humayun Kabir
Babar Road, Mohammadpur, Dhaka
It is alleged that some unscrupulous doctors have underhand deals with some spurious diagnostic centres. These doctors are prone to recommending such centres of their choice to patients. For every recommendation a part of the fee charged is reserved for the recommending doctor. Therefore, the temptation on the part of the doctors is to recommend a long list of tests for a single patient though only a few tests could be required. The patients can be doubly harmed from taking out tests in diagnostic centres of dubious value in the first place or even if they are recommended to centres with acceptable standards, from the compulsion to carry out unnecessary tests there.
The fee of a doctor with the basic MBBS degree for consultation in ordinary cases of cold, influenza, etc., should not be more than Taka 50. But the MBBS doctors in most cases are seen charging for writing out a prescription for, say, common cold, not less than one hundred Taka. Some take a greater amount whilst the minimum consultation fee for a specialist doctor these days is Taka 500. Hardly there are regulations in this field and doctors' consultation fees are rising higher and higher all the time at the cost of their hapless patients.
Humayun Kabir
Babar Road, Mohammadpur, Dhaka