Medical centres in name only

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A mobile court in the not too distant past took actions against some clinics and diagnostic centres and fined them in varying capacities and arrested some of their operators in Chittagong. It was found out during the drive that not only functioning without licence, these organisations were hopelessly deficient in terms of the number of qualified doctors, support staff and equipment. This is not a scenario peculiar to Chittagong. The picture is more or less the same throughout the country including the capital city, Dhaka. According to another report, there are now more than 2,000 clinics and diagnostic centres in Dhaka city but the government's Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) gave licence to only 898 of them to operate.
It is not that authorisation cannot be bought and sold for money in this country. Even then, it provides the assurance of a minimum of standard whereas the unauthorised ones are not binded by any regulation or supervision and prove to be like death houses than curing places. And that is what is happening to patients who get admitted to such unauthorised clinics.
The unauthorised clinics without proper operating chambers, equipment and well-qualified doctors and staff are in no position to discharge proper treatment to patients. Consequences of treatment based on the pathological findings of bogus diagnostic centres can be fatal in the same way.
Government must do immediately -- what it should have done long ago -- to stop such butcheries in the name of providing medical services. A comprehensive and countrywide crackdown against the unauthorised medical business is very necessary as innocent patients are squandering their precious resources at such places often risking their lives in the process.
Nurul Momen
University Staff Quarter, Dhaka