Incidents of medical negligence are not showing any declining trend, apparently exhibiting high incidence of violation of health rights by professionals.
A report by a local rights and legal aid body shows at least 1,021 incidents of medical negligence were reported between June 1995 and February 2016.
The data, prepared by Ain O Salish Kendra (ASK), is based on news reports of different national dailies.
Sheepa Hafiza, executive director of the ASK, said every day many patients are becoming victims of medical negligence.
In addition, cases of medical negligence often involve multiple complex issues regarding the facilities, she told the FE.
In this context, ASK felt the urgency of adopting a legal framework for better monitoring and regulation of the sector and to ensure the people’s rights to healthcare, Ms Hafiza said.
ASK is also set to arrange a consultation with the stakeholders on the draft law on Shastho Seba Bastobayan Ain at CIRDAP Auditorium in the city on Sunday, she added.
A study conducted by the ASK in 2013 said the Constitution of Bangladesh recognises right to health and medical care as fundamental necessity of every citizen.
The study also said Article 15 of the Constitution sets it to be a fundamental principle of State Policy to “attain, through planned economic growth, a constant increase in productive forces and a steady improvement in the material and cultural standard of living of the people, with a view to securing to its citizens-(a) the provision of the basic necessities of life, including food, clothing, shelter, education and medical care; (d) the right to social security that is to say, to public assistance in cases of undeserved want arising from unemployment, illness or disablement, or suffered by widows or orphans or in old age, or in other such cases."
The study also said medical negligence and lack of accountability in the entire healthcare administration have led to an unbearable condition both in public and private healthcare sectors of Bangladesh.
Limited resources, shortage of necessary equipment and medicines and an abnormally disproportionate ratio of doctors and nurses against patients- all these are reality in the context of medical services in Bangladesh, it added.
