Who rules the government hospitals?
Sumon, Dhaka
The ayahs and the employees of the lower rungs are the ones who enjoy the highest authoritative power in government hospitals. It sounds a little weird, but this is the case in all the government hospitals in the country. Even the doctors and the higher administrative officers do not bother to 'annoy' them as they have the blessings of some political quarter and the local thugs. They decide their office hour. Selling of the medicine allocated for the hospital, taking extra 'charges' and 'bakshis' from the patients, otherwise harassing them, working as middleman for private hospitals and pharmacies, even engaging in extortion and other anti-social activities are some of the widespread allegations. The indifference has encouraged them to go too far. Three ayahs of Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) offered them as midwives and allegedly killed a new-born and put the mother's life in danger while trying to deliver the baby. They also demanded Tk 4000 from the couple. Now the mother may not conceive again due to the damage done to her body by the inexperienced ayahs. The nightmare the couple had gone through is there to stay with them for the rest of their life. I offer my deepest sympathy to them. We hear the PG hospital is not fully government anymore. The only change is the increasing fee and the ayahs and other employees are still making business out of peoples' life unhindered. So it was not a viable solution. In Bangladesh the rouge elements is not easy to eliminate. Some pragmatic steps have to be taken to put an end to this. I believe we have something called the ministry of health.
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