AN alarming report published in a Daily on Sunday about corruption in medicare service at National Institute of Ophthalmology and Hospital in Agargaon, Dhaka should be an eye-opener for the authority. The report says, a syndicate of some pro-government Swadhinata Chikitsok Parishad (Swachip) doctors and medical representatives is allegedly making patients pay extra for contact lenses at this hospital. Many employees of this hospital are also reportedly taking money from patients for providing hospital beds to them. They are running the illegal business right under the nose of the hospital authority and with the blessing of some ‘influential doctors’. This allegation has come from the patients, their relatives and insiders there. It is said that some doctors receive a handsome commission on the sales of their prescribed contact lenses which are supplied by medical representatives. So the suppliers hike prices of contact lenses to maximise their profit, taking money out of patients’ pocket. The lenses would have been much cheaper had the doctors not gone for their share in the profit.
It is also said that a patient has to pay some employees from Tk 500 to Tk 5,000 for a bed at this hospital. Some influential doctors get a big share of the money. To counter these allegations the prototype answer of the authority is that due to excessive rush of the patients’ everyday it is not possible to satisfy all. But then how ‘no-vacancy’ disappears and bed is managed if a patient can pay the demanded extra money?
It is very disappointing to find ourselves so indifferent that public property can be plundered openly and without fear of being punished or without protest from others.
