Doesn’t the health ministry have a complete list of hospitals?
According to a report published by this newspaper, the health directorate has asked civil surgeons to ensure that all unauthorised private hospitals, clinics and diagnostic centres in the country are shut down as soon as possible. After a meeting with the owners of private hospitals on August 9, the authorities had decided that all private medical colleges, hospitals and clinics must apply for licences—either to renew them or get new ones—by August 23. After that, the authorities said, 13,000 such organisations applied online for licences within the deadline and nearly 2,800 others did not—and that there are "probably" some other establishments which they will have to look into. What we understand from this is that the health ministry does not have a total list of how many hospitals and clinics there are in the country—how many authorised and how many unauthorised. And that is truly shocking.
For any product, there are always stringent controls, including quality controls. Then how can we be in a situation where we now have to list how many hospitals and clinics there are and also verify them? The product we are talking about here is healthcare, and what is at stake is human lives. Why, then, haven't the authorities taken this seriously? Isn't there a standard procedure on how to set up a clinic? Don't hospitals need to get licences or other necessary documentation to set up?
If we take just one case, that of a police officer with mental health issues who went to Mind Aid Psychiatry and De-Addiction Hospital, we see the true state of this sector. ASP Anisul Karim was apparently beaten to death by staffers of the hospital, which had no DGHS authorisation except for a "license" from the Department of Narcotics Control allegedly. Why will a hospital have registration with the Department of Narcotics Control? What is clear from this is that this sector is in complete chaos.
The fact that the authorities have failed so miserably to properly monitor and ensure quality control in a sector that literally deals with human lives and is supposed to be the difference between life and death is shameful. Someone needs to be held accountable for this. Consequently, all efforts should be made to register each and every private clinic and hospital and then monitor their quality.
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