Regulators needed to protect consumers

Bangladesh is one of a few countries in the world where consumer interest is most neglected. Consumers, as they number millions and in some cases, all the people in a country, do not have any effective platform to negotiate with the government on basic issues relating to their interests. People in general cannot lobby for anything as they are not organised. But many other groups, who are small in number, are organised, can lobby or can employ lobbyists to plead on their behalf with the relevant government organisations. Loosely connected, or not connected at all, people cannot stand together and cannot demand something in one voice or cannot force the government to come forward to stand by them. It is true that the organised groups, who sell commodities or services to the largely unorganised consumers, are themselves also consumers. But the sellers of commodities or service providers, though consumers of other goods and services being provided by other organised groups, can bargain in a better way than the loosely connected consumers. At least they can square off their gains and losses in an unregulated consumer society.
It is the common people, be they farmers, labourers, teachers, private jobholders, unemployed men and women, old people and students, who are to pay the price of a non-regulated consumer society very dearly. In Bangladesh, though we brought some sectors, such as telecommunication, energy and power markets, financial markets like money and stock markets under regulations by setting up appropriate regulatory bodies under laws, we could not or did not do anything worthwhile to protect consumer rights in many other sectors including medicines and hospital business.
Market economy, if left unregulated, creates havoc on the lives of the consumers or clients who buy from the markets in such economy.  Free market does not mean freedom to do anything. Free market all over the world means a regulated market. Market itself does not need regulation or need to be overseen by an oversight body. But consumers, who are the main stakeholders in the market, need protection from market aberrations.
In a market, there are many players; they are classified as stronger or weaker ones. Normally stronger players take the devil's shape and lay their grips on areas of the market if there is nothing there to oversee the market on behalf of the government. The devil-like players see loopholes in the system and exploit them in their favour. In Bangladesh, we very often hear that consumers are being supplied with spurious or fake goods or items not as good in quality as it is described on the levels.
Consumers are cheated in weight, in quality and also in prices when they buy necessities from the retail markets. No one is there to oversee the markets at the retail level except the judicial magistrates who occasionally make forays into shops and impose fine on the shopkeepers for keeping and selling adulterated goods or consumer items. Occasional checking by the magistrates has failed to curb malpractices at the retail level.  The consumers need a full-fledged oversight body as is found in other countries to get remedies.
Bangladesh parliament has passed a Consumer Protection Act and also a Competition Act. But mere passage of laws will not protect consumer interest unless an appropriate regulator is tasked to oversee the application of the laws. Who looks after the interest of patients who buy drugs and medicines from open markets or who buy services from private hospitals? Who regulates the practice of physicians in Bangladesh?
What does the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council (BMDC) actually do in regulating physicians' practice? The task of overseeing is simply impossible. The BMDC was set up by the government with the help of practising physicians when their profession was not that extensive and when malpractices in this profession were rarely reported. But today with thousands of physicians coming from dozens of medical colleges, the old BMDC is no longer an appropriate body to oversee the practice or profession of its members. Why are so many patients going abroad every year for treatment? Simply because these people believe that quality medical services are not available in Bangladesh. Patients are ready to pay more to the physicians but they do not get the quality treatment from them in return. It is reported quite often that a patient died because of the physicians' neglect. Who will verify and prove that the patient died for this reason? Only a competent authority or an independent oversight body can make enquiries against all complaints the patients and their relatives bring up against physicians for alleged maltreatment or negligence.
Again, there are complaints against hospital services by patients. It is alleged that many diagnostic centres give fake pathological test results and many hospitals charge very high fees from the patients. Who will look after the interests of patients in this case? The perpetrators cannot be asked to oversee the irregularities committed by them or the misdeeds of their own. The country needs an independent oversight body to do the job. Bangladesh has laws to protect consumer interest but does not have proper oversight bodies to enforce those laws.
It was reported that Bangladesh was contemplating to become a member of Consumers International - a non-profit global body which looks after the interest of the consumers in the member-countries. If the country becomes a member of Consumers International, it will obligate it to enforce international standards in this respect.
There is a notion in economics which says that consumers are sovereign in their choice. But the reality in Bangladesh is that though consumers are free to choose, they are afraid of exercising this freedom freely. Every time they buy something, be it goods or service, they think they are being cheated.
The writer is Professor of Economics, University of Dhaka.
abuahmedecon@yahoo.com