Editorial
The sordid happenings at BSMMU
Meaningful action needed to restore credibility
The removal a few days ago of some senior officials, including the vice chancellor, of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University on charges of irregularities brings to light the questionable manner in which the institution was being run. When BSMMU began its journey, it did so with high hopes about offering excellence in medical education and research. However, in recent years there have been allegations of a politicisation of the BSMMU administration, with the result that the organisation has been in decline as far as medical education and the provision of services to patients are concerned. The recent instance of doctors at BSMMU producing a false medical certificate and without proper approval for a detained politician, to the effect that he needed to be treated outside, speaks volumes about things going wrong at the institution. There are set criteria about medical certification through a formation of medical boards that cannot and must not be disregarded.
The extent to which BSMMU may have become hostage to partisan politics was illustrated once more by the agitation put up by a section of staff there on Wednesday against the new vice-chancellor, pro-vice chancellors and treasurer. These new appointees found the way to their offices blocked by doctors and staff allegedly loyal to a political party, which shows that unless serious and drastic measures are taken to arrest the decline at BSMMU, we might soon have the sight of a good medical institution falling into disrepair and disrepute. And among these measures is the very real need of identifying the corruption of the last few years. Appointments and transfers were made on the basis of political requirements, which obviously goes against the tenets of the medical profession. That is unfortunate and should not have happened.
There is little question that the ethics of the medical profession need to be restored at BSMMU and indeed at every other hospital where they have been given short shrift in recent years. The moral bankruptcy that has for the past many years driven holes into our health care system puts us all to shame. When doctors, who clearly enjoy an exalted position in society, think little of undermining their own profession by resorting to unethical practices, what confidence can the public have in the premier medical institutions of the country? Let an example be set through weeding out the elements who have had a hand in bringing BSMMU to its present sorry state.
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