Dodgy doctors
Photo: Amdadul Huq/ driknews
It refers to The Daily Star's editorial titled "Doctors' truancy costing dear." Why are they leaving their duty stations? The absence of significant numbers of skilled professionals is one of the signs of a society's total or partial inability to allow those professionals to grow and thrive. While the causes of such an exodus may vary, the message that must be drawn is harsh: such movement almost invariably implies that our society is relatively less capable of supporting in logistical, technological, scientific or financial terms the activities of this special workforce. We believe that physicians belong to this special workforce and that their exodus is highly significant. The debate surrounding physicians' absence trends is highly charged, but beyond sensationalism and scoring political points. We need to take a serious look at the issue because, even though the statistics appear to suggest a slight improvement, the exodus from Bangladesh is real. Beyond mere figures, there is a "qualitative" exodus. As highly skilled physicians with special expertise depart, they leave behind hospitals incapable of providing extra-specialized care, surplus work for colleagues who remain and a weakened teaching base. Coercive measures concerning physician employment must be eliminated. We have to take a fresh look at how our system is managed and find new ways to fund it, while still maintaining the principles embedded in the Bangladesh Health Act. Health care and the biomedical sciences have to aim for excellence. If we do that, then perhaps we will be able to offer our physicians a more attractive environment.
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