Taking care of people

One such area is healthcare for the poor. The Dhaka Medical College Hospital is perhaps the most corrupt institution in Bangladesh! It is not run by the administration, but by the politically controlled employees union. What happens there is dictated by them, and the authorities duly accept it and overlook it all the time! Small wonder, the poor cannot afford to go there! Admission to the hospital, ambulance services, even carrying serious and elderly patients in stretchers; all have unofficial price tags attached. The axiom of this institution, the largest hospital in Bangladesh, is "Pay or perish" This issue has been raised in the print media many times, but unfortunately nothing has been done; and the CTG is also following the no-action programme here, the largest hospital in Bangladesh.

It is due to this ingrained corruption at DMCH that a large number of private hospitals and clinics have been commercially successful! Usually expert services in these private institutions are rendered by the employees of DMCH and other government hospitals. DMCH, a massive centre of nepotism and corruption, symbolises the state of public hospitals in the country.

The CTG must clean up the mess. The chief executives of these hospitals have no initiative in this direction. They live and work on the principle: "See no evil, Hear no evil", for this they practise-- "Take no initiative, and do no good" as that is bothersome!

When will the powers that be wake up?