Newly appointed Director of Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) Brigadier General Asaduzzaman has recently issued a warning that the authorities would go tough on brokers, cheat and touts, who harass, humiliate and even assault patients and their relatives at the DMCH.
We have noticed that harassment by brokers have increased manifold at DMCH and other public hospitals across the country in recent times. Members of different broker gangs are very active at the DMCH, private clinics and diagnostic centres in the capital.
They lure patients from DMCH into private clinics with a promise to provide better treatment and put them in dire situation there, which in some cases leading to death. Therefore, we appreciate the new DMCH director as he has taken note of the allegations that agents deployed by private hospitals are luring patients from DMCH into private clinics. In some cases, patients are pressured to get admitted to private clinics instead of the government health facilities.
These organised gangs comprising brokers, musclemen and goons under the patronage of godfathers rule the all government hospitals across the country. We think the countrywide drive against brokers must be launched immediately in line with the government’s electoral pledges as well as zero tolerance policy against any sort of irregularities, mismanagement and misdeeds at public health facilities. Since long an unholy nexus between brokers and a section of physicians, officials and staffs has turned the government hospitals into places of harassment and humiliations instead of providing service to the people. People are compelled to pay bribes to brokers linked with some unscrupulous officials.
Organised gangs comprising
brokers, muscleman and
goons under the patronage
of godfathers rule all
government hospitals
When people go to hospitals for treatment, these brokers bar them from receiving healt services and take them to different private and unauthorised hospitals assuring them of better service there. And most of the time, people fall prey to the thugs, who resort to various tricks to realise more money and later harass and humiliate service seekers in many ways.
We have also noticed that despite repeated drives, such grim scenario is prevailing at government health service facilities. We think the government must continue drive so that brokers, thugs, cheat and touts cannot have any scope to carry out this illegal and unethical practice.
With this measure, we think, people of the country will get rid of harassment and humiliations by the organised racket. Physicians, officials and other staffs of government hospitals will also have to be committed to serve the people with a desire to make the country a suitable abode for the next generation and ensure proper service for the people living every corner of the country.