Editorial
Politicking doctors
They must focus on their profession
Aghast at public health sector doctors' excessive involvement in partisan politics, the parliamentary standing committee on public assurance at a meeting on Monday came down heavily on them. The doctors, so busy doing politics, are thus seriously defaulting on their duties.
This is a very important issue concerning the state of public health in the country. The JS body deserves commendations for its timely step to bring the matter to the fore.
Doctors so engaged in politics are also adopting unfair means like running their private practice in their chambers set up within the government clinic.
This is very unfortunate that the government doctors could stoop so low as to forget their noble calling for partisan end and keep themselves absent from their duty stations!
Is it then any surprise that the rural public hospitals are in such a sorry state? While deprived of service from government community clinics, the poor patients in the rural areas are going to village quacks and faith healers for treatment? As a result, they are being pushed into double jeopardy--they are being cheated by these fake healers, on the one hand, while their medical condition is getting worse, on the other. In desperation, many of them are selling their properties and rushing to the private hospitals in the cities. And the blame for all this goes to the government sector doctors themselves.
This state of affairs cannot continue indefinitely. While these doctors may conveniently forget the cost the common people had to bear from the public exchequer to train each of them, the state cannot and should not afford to do so.
The government must go to the bottom of this problem. The fact that the doctors are overactive in politics implies that they are getting some encouragement from the major political parties in power and the opposition. So, the onus lies both on the ruling and opposition parties to prevail upon the government doctors to refrain from politics and return to their jobs.
The errant doctors should be made to see reason. The recalcitrant should be penalised.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments