Corruption in the health sector

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CLEANERS and others at the public hospitals hardly do their jobs.  Doctors in most of the  rural health complexes remain away from their posts for weeks, often with unauthorised leave. Government doctors are not  supposed to engage in private practice. But this rule is most insensitively flouted and the doctors seem to be more dedicated to their private practices than serving at their posts in the government-operated medical and health care units.

It is, no doubt, necessary to  attend to the needs of the public medical and health services by appointing more doctors and related professionals. But  more attention has to be paid to flush these services very clean of irresponsibility and insincerity. A truly effective system of  accountability must be  created and operated within these services. This is possibly the main challenge in this sector.

The running of the private clinics or hospitals also needs better supervision from the government's regulatory authority. Private clinics are operating in some places without even licences. Many such clinics maintain hardly any standard of service although they are quite adept at taking high fees from the patients. The closing down of such clinics  is desirable in the public interest.

Shabnam Shirin

Rayerbazar, Dhaka