Dodgy doctors
Photo: Wahid Adnan / driknews
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, while inaugurating the World Breastfeeding Week-2010, issued a warning that the government would take stern action against the doctors who would not attend duties at the rural hospitals regularly. In this regard she also said, “All government servants get salaries from the taxes paid by the general mass and hence cannot ignore the common people's rights”. The prime minister is very right in her statement and this is what everyone expects. But to say something in an inaugural ceremony is not enough to make it happen. We regularly see and hear the prime minister and her high profile Ministers telling big things in the media and hardly find those words reflecting in deeds. This is true from easing traffic jams to control prices of essential commodities. Now a days, finding that nothing tangible is happening, the high judiciary is giving direct orders to government functionaries to do specific things for public interest such as marking the rivers boundaries around Dhaka, cross-fire killings, environment related issues etc. But the general people notice with extreme worry that even the High Court's instructions are probably falling in deaf ears. Prior to issuing any instruction to correct any non-compliance, the authorities should look into the root causes. Say, in this case of dodgy doctors, the concerned ministry and directorate should find the reasons why the doctors are not attending their duties in village hospitals. I know some cases of the recently appointed medical officers on ad-hoc basis. My daughter who hails from Shibpur upazila under Narsingdi district has been posted in Kashiani upazila under Gopalganj. Her husband works in a multinational bank having no workstation outside Dhaka. My daughter has no objection to serve in upazila level but her present posting has become a big challenge for her. I know two other doctors who are husband and wife and have been posted in two upazilas apart from each other by 300 kms. What is the rationale behind such postings of the new appointees?
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