Doctors turn a blind eye to BMDC instructions

Physicians are not using the registration numbers provided by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council (BMDC) on their visiting cards, signboards or prescription pads, defying the instruction of the regulatory body of physicians.

The BMDC on February 21 last year posted a notice on its website and circulated the information through different newspapers, directing all physicians to mention the registration numbers on their visiting cards, signboards, nameplates and their prescription pads, in a bid to identify fake doctors.

But the doctors are not apparently following the instruction in Chittagong. This correspondent recently visited different hospitals and private chambers of doctors practicing in front of Chittagong Medical College Hospital, in Prabartak intersection, Mehedibagh, Nizam Road, Jamal Khan Road and Panchlaish areas. It was found that none of the around a hundred randomly chosen doctors are using the BMDC registration numbers. 

One of such doctors is Fatema (not her real name), a consultant of gynecology and obstetrics at Chittagong Medical College Hospital. She also has a private chamber at Chittagong Lab Ltd on KB Fazlul Quader Road in the city. But none of her business cards and nameplates contains the BMDC registration number. 

Asked, she said the authorities of the private facility printed her business cards months before the BMDC notice was published.

“I will instruct the authorities to use the registration number the next time,” she said.

As the genuine doctors are not mentioning their registration numbers on their prescription pads, visiting cards and signboards outside the health facilities, it is quite  impossible for patients to identify fake doctors.

It is worth mentioning that different mobile courts penalised at least 20 fake doctors in Chittagong in the last few years since 2012.

In May 2016, a mobile court of Chittagong district administration fined Rasel Kanti Nath, who completed a six-month LMAF training course after his SSC, Tk 10,000 in Bastuhara area of Bakalia for treating patients impersonating a doctor.

On April 13, 2012, a mobile court detained Mohammad Qaium, 55, of Comilla, at Anusondhan Diagnostic Centre in Fatikchhari upazila of Chittagong for impersonating a doctor named Lt Col Dr M Kamrul Hassan.

Some 13 days later, another impostor, Jhunu Prova Shil, who had been practising as a gynecologist in a private clinic named “City Hospital” in the port city's Prabartak intersection for many years, was fined Tk 1 lakh.

Jhunu confessed to the mobile court that she never went to any medical school. But she used to introduce herself as a former student of Sir Salimullah Medical College.

When contacted, Executive Magistrate Sarwar Alam, who had led a number of drives against fake doctors in Chittagong, said the number of doctor impersonators would significantly dwindle if the genuine doctors made public their BMDC registration numbers.

It will be easier for both patients and law enforcement agencies to distinguish between fake and genuine doctors by searching the registration numbers on the BMDC website, which also contains their photographs, he said.

Contacted, BMDC Registrar Dr Zahedul Haque Basunia said the recent rule had not been included in the Bangladesh Medical Council act. Therefore, the BMDC cannot compel doctors to use the registration numbers.

“We can now only encourage them to comply with the order. We have sent a proposal to the health ministry to amend the act in this regard,” he said.

Faisal Iqbal Chowdhury, general secretary of Chittagong unit of Bangladesh Medical Association, said doctors should follow the BMDC instruction.

“We are directing all the doctors in Chittagong to mention their registration numbers,” he added.

At a recent conference with BMDC, civil surgeons pledged to ensure that all doctors mention their registration numbers on visiting cards, signboards and prescription pads, said the BMDC registrar.

“We had a meeting with doctors recently and they also realised that they should mention their registration numbers,” he added.

According to the BMDC website, it is a statutory body with the responsibility of establishing and maintaining a high standard of medical education and recognition of medical qualifications in Bangladesh. It registers doctors to practise in Bangladesh, in order to protect and promote the health and safety of the public by ensuring proper standards in the practice of medicine.