Editorial
HC move against two hospitals
Comprehensive inquiry called for
The move by a High Court bench to seek explanations from two private hospitals on the deaths of some patients in recent days should be the beginning of a process to hold medical authorities to account. A few days ago, Dr. Mridul Kanti Chakrabarty, a senior teacher at Dhaka University's department of music and a reputed scholar, allegedly died of negligence at Labaid Hospital. Suffering from dehydration, he was, as reports would have it, made to wait a pretty long time for treatment. His death, it is fair to suppose, could certainly have been prevented had doctors at Labaid, one of the more expensive medical facilities in the country, taken quick action.
In the other instance, this one at Ibn Sina, three babies allegedly died from doctors' negligence. Worse, it is reported that information of their deaths was withheld from their parents. Both these cases, at Labaid and Ibn Sina, are symptomatic of how patients have been paying a price at so-called well-equipped and modern hospitals owing to the sheer cavalier and unprofessional attitude of those who man such institutions.
In the past too, there have been reports of patients dying through negligence; and in most of the cases, such reports, after the usual sensational effect caused, were somehow hushed up. We believe that the High Court move should now lead to a comprehensive inquiry that will go deep into the professional competence or otherwise, corruption and financial records of all privately administered hospitals in the country.
In recent years, to our intense regret, the Hippocratic Oath has surreptitiously been cast aside by a very large section of the country's medical community. More to the point, the ministry of health, has demonstrated disinterest in how public and private medical organisations have been conducting themselves. The HC move must now lead to results. Doctors cannot simply preside over patients' deaths.
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