Medical malpractice  

Medical malpractices have ever remained a cause for serious concern. The infamous gang culture of persuading simple and unsuspecting patients and people accompanying them right from in front of the National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic and Rehabilitation (NITOR) is one of those. After drives carried out against the intermediaries who work for some private clinics or hospitals in the nearby areas of Shyamoli and Mohammadpur, such activities remain dormant but the practitioners of this foul play do not take long to stage a comeback. The cat-and-mouse play has been going on for decades with no end in sight of this medical malpractice. Now this type of healthcare aberration has joined forces with the other variety in which unqualified people posing as doctors experts in surgery carry out complicated operations on patients. The consequence is either death, disability for life or other serious physical and mental complications.

Raids conducted by a mobile court of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) on three such so-called private hospitals located in Mohammadpur and Adabar have exposed chilling details of irregularities, gross negligence of health rules, cheating of patients and extortion of money from the victims. How shocking! One such facility has a secondary school certificate (SSC) qualified man as its director who also conducts operations on patients, in his impersonating capacity of a surgery specialist. In other two such hospitals, ward boys do the same trick. How dare they? But theirs is not the first such case. It has happened earlier in the area concerned and elsewhere. It could and can happen because of involvement of people with notorious type like that of ill-famed Regent Hospital's Shahed Karim. Such evil incarnations however cannot prosper without patronage of people in positions. One of the reasons why the evil nexus cannot be dismantled is that they have sympathisers or indirect beneficiaries within the system ---in this case NITOR.

It is unthinkable that the authorities of the NITOR are unaware of the medical malpractice enacted on the hospital premise in broad daylight. An illegal trade such as this involves haggling and at times fishy or heated negotiations. There were reports in the past that the gangs of intermediaries did not even bother to seek opinions of patients' attendants on their arrival at hospital gate before hauling the sick on their vans and driving off to their designated private hospitals. The promise of cheaper medical treatment has lured some patients to such dens but once they step into the traps of these devils, the latter unfurl their fangs and claws. Patients and their near and dear ones are mercilessly exploited and extorted in an unhygienic environment.

True, the capacity of the NITOR is limited and the rush of patients at times is too heavy to manage. This, however, cannot be an excuse for allowance of compromise on professional integrity. Once some doctors of the NITOR allegedly arranged such private hospitals and introduced intermediaries to bait patients newly arrived at the hospital's premise out of it. Whether any of them is still resorting to the disgraceful tactic needs to be monitored and action against the wrong-doer has to be taken accordingly. As for the fake doctors or impostors, punishment should be stricter.