HEALTHCARE services at Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH) were disrupted for more than two hours on Thursday, as doctors left their workplace to attend a views-exchange meeting organised for the ruling Awami League-blessed mayor aspirant AJM Nasir Uddin, reported a local daily. Hundreds of outdoor patients were seen waiting at the medicine and surgery (general surgery and orthopaedic surgery) units during that time.
Asked if any government official could join such a meeting which is part of Nasir’s electoral campaign, former Election Commissioner M Sakhawat Hussain said as per electoral code of conduct, non-government official or staff can join any electoral campaign meeting. “If government doctors take part in such a meeting, it is definitely a violation of code of conduct,” he viewed. Whenever such incidents come to the notice of the Returning Officer, he must investigate and take necessary action, Sakhawat said.
Shafiqur Rahman, Assistant Returning Officer, said no government official could participate in electoral campaign. “There is no specific rule in the electoral code of conduct as to whether a government official, as an audience, can attend a meeting of any candidate,” he said.
Pranab Kumar Chakraborty, Head of Child Health, mentioned, “As a member of Bangladesh Medical Association, we have some thoughts to exchange with the public leaders. Moreover, as a conscious citizen, I can hear the speeches of public leaders.” “We stayed there for only around an hour and sufficient doctors were in the ward to serve the patients during that time,” he added.
Asked if a government doctor can attend such a meeting, Nurul Huda, Associate Professor of Nephrology Department, said, “I asked my colleagues about it and they told me that if we have the right to cast vote, we also have the right to listen to speeches of public leaders.” Meanwhile, Nasir at the meeting said the two major problems of the city – waterlogging and poor waste management – cannot be solved only with City Corporation funds. “The government’s assistance is necessary to solve these problems,” he said. If he is elected mayor, it would be easier for him to get the assistance from the government as he is blessed by the Prime Minister, he added.
Whatever the pious reasons may have been for attending the meeting – the foremost thought on the minds of the doctors should have been the welfare of the patients. Surely the need of the hospital for more funds could have been met by meeting with whoever actually wins the Mayoral election instead of focusing on one specific candidate of the ruling party. Getting the doctors to vote by bribing them with the promise of high fund allocations due to special relationships should not be thought of as an acceptable code of conduct for any aspirant for the job. Once again, our Mayoral candidates have shown that rules exist on for others and not for those connected to the corridors of power.
