MAILBOX
Diagnosing the supply chain
When it comes to critical diseases, most people first think of going to neighbouring India for treatment. Even the middle-class prefers this option as our healthcare system is unprofessional and only seems to exist for the purpose of minting money. There are various reasons for this—doctor-patient communication is limited and doctors seem only to prescribe a long list of costly medicines. Even after giving consecutive doses, patients' health doesn't improve or even deteriorates with time.
It is further disheartening to know that some renowned diagnostic centers are selling expired drugs and pharmacies are not storing the drugs in compliance with instructed conditions and temperatures by the makers. For these reasons, drugs don't react properly in patients and therefore we lose faith in our country's healthcare. While affluent people go abroad, the middle class and commoners are left to fend for themselves. There should be proper regulatory control to monitor this type of callousness in this vital sector urgently.
Rafid Alam
Mohammadpur, Dhaka
Calling in corruption
The anti-corruption hotline is a much-needed initiative. It allows ordinary citizens to be vigilant in informing the ACC about corrupt activities they have witnessed or been forced to participate in. As the ACC is seeing a large response, it is crucial that they keep up with the cases and tackle these effectively or this initiative too will fall on the wayside with other well-meaning but ultimately ineffective public initiatives.
It is interesting to note that a large number of calls are not related to corruption but issues such as access to government services and legal questions which people are unaware of. Most calls are also from rural areas where an official is quoted as saying that people get cheated more often. It goes to show that the public needs to take recourse to report various problems because they have no other option—no one to talk to or consult. The government needs to be more in touch with the people's needs.
Sumaya Rahman
Banasree, Dhaka
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