Staff Reporter :
The High Court on Thursday directed the concerned bodies of the government immediately to make it sure that hospitals and clinics and medical practitioners do not refuse emergency medical services when a patient is brought to them.
And if any hospital or clinic does not have the requisite service, then they have to ensure that the patient has been transferred to the nearest available hospital the court also directed.
The High Court bench comprising Justice Farah Mahbub and Justice SM
Maniruzzaman passed the orders after holding hearing on a petition filed in this regard.
The High Court asked the respondents to compile a list of all private and government hospitals and clinics in Bangladesh and a separate list of hospitals and clinics that have emergency departments along with a general description of the condition of such departments and submit the list to the High Court bench within 3 months.
The High Court also issued ruling upon the concerned bodies of the governments to explain in four weeks as to why the failure of the respondents to ensure that hospitals and clinics (government or private) in Bangladesh do not refuse emergency medical services to persons in need should not be declared to be without lawful authority.
It also wanted to know in the ruling as to why the respondents should not be directed to immediately ensure that hospitals and clinics and medical practitioners do not refuse emergency medical services when a patient is brought to them.
In the ruling the court also wanted to know as to why the health secretary and the director general of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) should not be directed to incorporate the requirement of an emergency department into all new licenses to be issued to private hospitals or clinics, and into existing licences of private hospitals and clinics at the time of renewal.
Health secretary, director general of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), BMDC president, Bangladesh Private Medical College Association president and Bangladesh Private Hospital Clinic and Diagnostic Owners Association president have to comply with the ruling within four weeks.
The High Court fixed January 22 next year for further hearing on the matter.
Bangladesh Legal Aid & Services Trust (BLAST) along with co-petitioner Academy of Law and Policy (ALAP) filed this writ petition recently seeking judicial intervention to develop a supportive legal framework for emergency medical services in Bangladesh.
Barrister Rashna Imam, Barrister Sharmin Akter and Advocate Khandakar Nilima Yasmin appeared in the hearing on behalf of BLAST and ALAP while, Deputy Attorney General Samarendra Nath Biswash represented the state.
The petitioners are aggrieved by the failure of the respondents to ensure that hospitals and clinics do not refuse emergency medical services to patients leading to death, permanent disability, physical complications and pain and suffering. The refusal of hospitals and clinics to treat emergency patients for one reason or another has become a phenomenon in Bangladesh.
According to the petition on January 9 this year a woman named Alpana in labour was refused emergency medical assistance and on their way to the referred hospital, she started having serious contractions and stopped at Bakultala Maitri Club to give birth. Some more incidents of refusal of hospitals and clinics were mentioned in the petition.
