Services at Dhaka Medical College Hospital remained suspended for hours on Tuesday following a clash between attendants of a patient and interns over the use of an elevator, as reported by a local daily. Because of this, patients at the hospital were deprived of care. Those arriving from far away places with severe illness and injuries could not get services even at the emergency or casualty departments from 11:30am to 4:25pm. The trouble began around 11:00am when some interns asked three attendants of a patient to get out of the elevator — meant for use by doctors — at the extended building of the hospital. But Khandker Nuruzzaman Limon, son of the patient, Selina Begum, and his acquaintances Shuvo and Samrat, both Dhaka University students, reacted and asked the interns about their identities, leading to a scuffle, said doctors. To make matters worse when journalists went to cover the event they were attacked by the intern doctors and one journalist was injured.
Incidents of this sort are recurring at an increasing frequency as people have become used or immured to the idea of vigilantism, which is to basically take the law into their own hands. This idea is increasingly becoming embedded into the psyche of our citizens as they believe that if they don’t take the law into their own hands they will not get justice. Whether this is true or not the fact remains that hot-headedness and impetuous behaviour will lead to tragedies occurring. In cases like these no party bothers to verify if they are actually right or wrong but rush headlong into a melee of their own making due to perceived or imaginary slights which they believe have been inflicted upon them. Thus it ultimately becomes a clash of egos.
Unfortunately the sufferers are our ordinary citizens – in this case the patients who came to the hospital to get treatment. We are used to being denied a lot of the privileges which citizens in other countries take for granted – but when the denial means the privilege between life and death then it becomes particularly bitter. While it is true that our doctors can and do make mistakes it is also true that actions are seldom take against them -thus the perception exists that they are above the law. In this case however there was no such clear case of malpractice to incite the patients to such fury.
Ultimately a malaise exists at the core of our society -thousands of laws and regulations exists but misusing them has become normal. This is the main reason why violent crimes are occurring with such frequency – after 43 years of independence do we want to be known as a nation of godfathers? This question should bother those who are least bothered by it – those in the corridors of power.
Health Ministry, not just Health Minister, who need not to be competent, should be able to ensure proper management of government hospitals. We do not see the Ministry officials accepting any responsibility.
