Services in public hospitals cry out for improvement
Monday, 11 April 2011
Lutfor Rahman.
Recent reports in the media say the country's overall healthcare services have deteriorated to a marked extent. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on April 6 said that the country's overall healthcare scenario has not improved to an expected level although the government has taken a great deal of initiatives. Doctors and nurses, reportedly, are not taking proper care of the patients in most of the public hospitals. Free medicare facilities and medicines for the poor and the disadvantaged groups are hardly available. A section of unscrupulous public hospital officials influences patients to get admitted into private clinics, assuring them of better treatment facilities. Private clinics offer a slice of their income to such middlemen. Medical services in public hospitals are in a precarious condition. Poor people have no alternative other than going to these hospitals. It is hard to get physicians' services there. Specialist physicians are mostly busy with their private practice. Even on-duty doctors do reportedly leave hospital premises to visit patients in private clinics. It is in fact, an anarchic situation prevailing in the country's public healthcare system. Many affluent people prefer to go abroad for treatment because of their lack of confidence in local medical services. A substantial amount of foreign currency is spent on overseas medical treatment of such patients. It is, on the other hand, known to all that most of the medical doctors in public hospitals either own or have a contractual relationship with private clinics. For these doctors, public service is a false identity. Their true identity is making money through private practice. At present, the country's health sector, in the true sense of the term, is affected by various irregularities and rampant corruption, including ineffectiveness of Upazilla Health Complex (UHC), mismanagement of drug administration, lack of quality medicine, misuse of antibiotic, lack of modern medical equipment, lucrative trade of various tests, inadequate number of doctors and nurses, doctors' absence from the hospital, lack of proper monitoring by the administration and so on. The government, in this situation, will have to take, without any delay, urgent measures for removing all these stumbling blocks in a bid to ensure the quality medicare service as it is the constitutional obligation for the government to provide health services to all. The writer may be reached at E-mail: mail:mlutforr@ovi.com
Recent reports in the media say the country's overall healthcare services have deteriorated to a marked extent. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on April 6 said that the country's overall healthcare scenario has not improved to an expected level although the government has taken a great deal of initiatives. Doctors and nurses, reportedly, are not taking proper care of the patients in most of the public hospitals. Free medicare facilities and medicines for the poor and the disadvantaged groups are hardly available. A section of unscrupulous public hospital officials influences patients to get admitted into private clinics, assuring them of better treatment facilities. Private clinics offer a slice of their income to such middlemen. Medical services in public hospitals are in a precarious condition. Poor people have no alternative other than going to these hospitals. It is hard to get physicians' services there. Specialist physicians are mostly busy with their private practice. Even on-duty doctors do reportedly leave hospital premises to visit patients in private clinics. It is in fact, an anarchic situation prevailing in the country's public healthcare system. Many affluent people prefer to go abroad for treatment because of their lack of confidence in local medical services. A substantial amount of foreign currency is spent on overseas medical treatment of such patients. It is, on the other hand, known to all that most of the medical doctors in public hospitals either own or have a contractual relationship with private clinics. For these doctors, public service is a false identity. Their true identity is making money through private practice. At present, the country's health sector, in the true sense of the term, is affected by various irregularities and rampant corruption, including ineffectiveness of Upazilla Health Complex (UHC), mismanagement of drug administration, lack of quality medicine, misuse of antibiotic, lack of modern medical equipment, lucrative trade of various tests, inadequate number of doctors and nurses, doctors' absence from the hospital, lack of proper monitoring by the administration and so on. The government, in this situation, will have to take, without any delay, urgent measures for removing all these stumbling blocks in a bid to ensure the quality medicare service as it is the constitutional obligation for the government to provide health services to all. The writer may be reached at E-mail: mail:mlutforr@ovi.com