Editorial
It's CCTV at DMCH now
The issue remains one of management though
So telling have been the effects of mismanagement, corruption and malpractice on the service delivery of Dhaka Medical College Hospital that it has acquired a forbidding image, like it or not. In terms of reputation, if not specialisation in certain areas where hospitals like DMCH or SMCH still remain ordinary patients' last resort, it has lost touch with its old, glorious charm.
Supposed to be a hospital providing affordable and dependable medicare to people of small or no means, DMCH is now held ransom to a free-for-all by colluding employees and go-between mercenaries. That the management, departmental heads, doctors and specialists are helpless before the muscle power of sheer numbers is hardly an acceptable explanation because if they were united, and united behind the good cause of their collective call to duty, they would have won the day by now.
Whether it is attention at the OPD, admission to wards, provision for diet and medicine, toilet facility, pathological tests -- everything seems to carry an extra price tag. Hospital premises and even interiors are mostly unclean, some wards in particular give off bad odour and even emergency patients are huddled along corridors in miserable conditions. The accompanying relatives allegedly even have fear for their security. Then, of course, there are attempts by middlemen to wean away gullible patients and their attendants to private clinics.
It is all very good to note that the authorities are going to install 16 closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras at all important points to keep an eye on attempted manipulation by brokers and any institutional misconduct in the making. In the ultimate analysis, it is the man behind the machine that is key to benefiting from such a snooping eye. Of course, to a certain extent, presence of the CCTV camera is supposed to keep the wicked at bay. But then the crucial test will be keeping the machines working in a place where notoriously equipment has a way of conking, especially one so consequential at that! The readings will have to be constantly watched, analysed and actions instantly taken on detection of any offence in the brew; otherwise the whole exercise will be scuppered. In fact, it may breed a degree of complacency into the management.
The health minister has himself shown a great sensitivity to the need for expanding the hospital capacity and promised addition of a new building to DMCH which we want to see come up soon enough.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. 
Related News
India’s ‘push-in’ strategy violates international law
20 June 2026, 18:08 PM
Editorial
Why build roads through a reserved forest?
20 June 2026, 13:00 PM
Editorial
An alarming report on children’s exposure to climate risks
19 June 2026, 19:07 PM
Editorial
Why is safe water inaccessible for millions despite rising spending?
19 June 2026, 08:00 AM
Editorial
BB must confront bad loans’ true scale
18 June 2026, 18:38 PM
Editorial
Comments