Medical centres sans licenses

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There are services which are extremely important for the simple reason that these involve human life. The same are the medical services and for the obvious reasons no compromise can be allowed in running them properly or in their standards. Therefore, it is shocking to learn that there are medical centres in Bangladesh which are functioning without any authorisation from the official health authorities though such approval is a basic legal requirement for treating patients.
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.
Nizamuddin Ahmed
DOHS, Dhaka