WE are used to believe that doctors are not greedy traders. Those who have an ambition to earn huge money should not come to the medical profession. Regrettably, however, in Bangladesh, patients are frequently cheated financially by doctors. When a patient visits a doctor s/he has to pay hefty fees. While a top government official gets a monthly salary of Tk 82,000, i.e. Tk 2,733 per day, a specialised doctor earns at least Tk 10,000 every evening (20 patients at the rate of Tk 500 per head) from private practice, that is, after attending their regular government jobs during daytime. Needless to say, many doctors attend more than 20 patients every evening. Some specialist doctors even charge Tk 800 to Tk1,200 for each visit. If the government fixes Tk 200 as consultation fee for each patient, a doctor can still earn at least Tk 100,000 in 25 working days in a month in addition to the salary and other service benefits s/he gets from the government job.
Most doctors advise patients visiting them for the first time to have a number of pathological tests. In most cases, seven out of, say, eight tests done, seven are found producing normal results. After going through the results, doctors find that the patient is all right. Naturally, most patients feel that all these tests may have been unnecessary in the first place. Worse still, there are frequent allegations that doctors get commissions from diagnostic centres for sending their patients for various pathological tests. There are doctors who are not involved in such malpractices, but they are too few in number.
A few years ago the government fixed doctors' fees and charges for diagnostic tests. The fees and charges should be updated and enforced strongly. The present diagnostic charges of the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) may be considered the standard. The evening private practice fees fixed by the university can also be followed for different categories of doctors. The fixed fees and charges should be well publicised in print and electronic media. Any violation of these fees and charges should be dealt with strongly. This will certainly help patients to have health services at affordable costs. The Health Ministry should take necessary steps to fix charges for different pathological tests and doctors' consultation fees, and penalties in case of any violation thereof.
Md. Ashraf Hossain
120 Bashabo, Dhaka-1214
[email protected]
- Friday, 22 November 2024 |
- Today's FE |
- e-Paper |
- Beta Website
