Treat DMCH
Things are falling apart at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital. Service as an idea went out of the window there long ago. Now its equipment are going out, thanks to 'invaders' who are running a pillaging business quietly and uninterruptedly in connivance with some of the lower tier staff of the hospital. Nothing is spared by them. Even ordinary stethoscope is on the 'vanishing list'. Nobody challenges them because the 'invaders' and their associates are dangerous people and police would not bother about the complaints.
It is true over the years a symbiotic relationship has grown between police and the criminals. But the real reason why police turns a deaf ear to complains against criminality and corruption in a place like DMCH is probably because it never got the 'message' from the top to concentrate on cases like these. When asked by our correspondent about police inaction, the official concerned of the law enforcing agency came up with an answer that summed up the whole situation, " we have more priority jobs than detaining invaders.." It is true and we cannot quite blame him. He is only a product of a culture. A culture that has taught him to place these cases down his priority list. But public institutions particularly those in the health sector cannot suffer perennially because of this 'priority' problem. We urge the Home Minister to take a personal initiative in this matter. We believe an effective swoop on the den of these invaders will take care of a few evils in an around that area. The colonies of lower tier government employees around DMCH , BUET and Dhaka University have virtually turned into criminals' 'barracks'. Once these places regain their pure residential character, law and order will improve.
But mere tightening of law and order won't do. Efficient administration is what our dilapidated health care sector misses most. The government attitude in this respect is baffling. Despite repeated exposes of rampant corruption, insensible unionism and CBA tyranny in all the state-run medical facilities, it has preferred to turn a blind eye. We had suggested earlier in this column that the government should form a task force to probe into the evils devitalising the government hospitals. Furthermore, we counsel it to think about banning all sorts of union activities in the medical facilities.
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