Dr. Md. Shafiqul Islam

The skyrocketing prices of daily essential commodities have aggrieved the lower middle-income people. People are getting frustrated day by day due to the economic crisis. And health and finance play an important role in overcoming this depression and anxiety. But in the media and social media, I hear various criticisms about health and finance.

Day by day, the banking sector is going through a very bad time. There is also a lack of coordination among different sectors. Now the prices of all the daily essentials, including medicines, are going up a lot. People are very worried about when inflation will come under control. However, the government is forming a new council of ministers; we want to see the light of hope. New health, commerce and finance ministers have been appointed; they must take the initiative to reduce these sufferings by thinking of common people.

The government efficiently handled the coronavirus epidemic. However, they could not play an effective role in dengue control. Although dengue has been alarming in Bangladesh for many years, it broke all previous records in 2023. This year, as the rate of infection has increased, the number of deaths has reached the highest. In the last 23 years, 868 people have died of dengue in the country. But till December 27, 2023, a total of 1,697 people have died of the disease. The Ministry of Health cannot deny its responsibility in any way. According to experts, the unplanned urbanisation that has been going on for the past few years, the failure of the authorities to control mosquitoes, and the poor health sector are responsible for this situation in Bangladesh.
During the COVID-19 epidemic, government hospitals were initially in charge of coronavirus treatment, but later, private hospitals took responsibility for that. Many private hospitals grabbed lakhs of taka in the name of coronavirus treatment. In addition, the hospital authorities did not admit patients without a coronavirus test after a hundred times of requests. Relatives were running from one hospital to another with sick patients. At one point, the patient died without treatment. But really, they were not affected by the coronavirus because of the way JKG and Regent gave fabricated reports without examination. Due to Regent and JKG's false reports, our reputation was lost in the world.

Because of the sale of fake COVID-19 negative reports, some Bangladeshis were caught at foreign airports with those reports. But they were not allowed to land at the airport and had to come back to the country, which is tarnishing its image and revealing the mismanagement of the health sector.

There was talk going on in society about how these dishonest people got approval. At various times, disagreements between the Ministry of Health and the Directorate of Health surfaced in the press. A question was created in the mind of the common citizen; how does the health department allow fraudsters like Sabrina and Shahed to get coronavirus treatment? There are negative comments in the civil society about the Department of Health, and there are allegations that the people have not accepted their activities. The Department of Health needs to be reorganised so that there is no such mismanagement. Even if Shahed or Sabrina were punished, now I see that they have been released on bail again.

Recently, a five-year-old child, Ayaan, died after circumcision at the United Medical College Hospital in Satarkul in the capital, which has upset the entire nation. How did this innocent baby die? In the last 15 years, many people have died due to medical negligence in Bangladesh. So, how are these hospitals still operating? This is now a big question for the nation. Why has no strict action been taken in this regard? Had justice or action been taken in the past, a boy like Ayaan would not have died today due to malpractice. We strongly demand the cancellation of the hospital license for medical negligence and the cancellation of the registration of the concerned doctor for malpractice. Authority should identify all those who are involved in such fraud in any way. Exemplary punishment should be provided for malpractice through trial. Then, the health sector will improve to deliver the better services. People can safely receive treatment.

Another mismanagement of the health department is that there are more than 15 thousand private hospitals, clinics and diagnostic centres in the country, out of which about 50-60% are running illegally. That is, they do not have a valid license. For those who have a valid license, the monitoring system of the health department needs to be visible. The new health minister should look into the irregularities and corruption in the health sector and take legal action against the culprit, which will contribute to the development of the health sector and to build a smart Bangladesh. The government or concerned authorities need to take appropriate and ground breaking steps for the development of the health sector.
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The writer is an Associate Professor, Department of Accounting & Information systems, Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam University