With the public hospitals grappling with a rising number of Covid-19 patients, different professional bodies have moved to ensure that their members get preferential treatment at private hospitals, limiting people’s access to healthcare.
Such a move by professional bodies will further reduce people’s access to healthcare facilities which is a fundamental right, say health experts and human rights activists.
Referring to reports of patients being denied treatment by private hospitals and clinics, they say the government must make sure that everyone can get treatment at private healthcare facilities during this pandemic.
A number of professional bodies have already reserved beds for their members at private hospitals. Bangladesh Police even “hired” an entire private hospital for treating its members while the association of judges signed a deal with another private hospital to get preferential treatment for its members.
Besides, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) recently asked three private hospitals in the capital to provide treatment to the members of Supreme Court Bar Association and their family members infected with Covid-19.
In a strongly-worded letter, the association asked the health minister to do so within three days or else the ministry or the DGHS will be held responsible for “any situation that may arise”.
As the number of Covid-19 cases is increasing sharply and healthcare services at public hospitals are not satisfactory, these groups want to get their sick members admitted to private hospitals, say the experts.
It has become difficult for Covid-19 patients to get beds, especially in ICUs, at private hospitals as a handful of those provide treatment to such patients. This is why these organisations have moved to make arrangements with private hospitals dedicated for coronavirus patients, they point out.
Prof Dr Rashid-E-Mahbub, former president of the BMA, said that since the country’s health sector is fragile, different influential groups are trying to ensure treatment for their members, ignoring general people.
“As a result, common people’s access to treatment facilities will shrink. Only the influential people will be able to get treatment…,” he told The Daily Star yesterday.
The government should ask all private hospitals, which have the capacity to treat Covid-19 patients, to provide healthcare services to all equally during this pandemic.
“However, the government is not doing this.”
The BMA raised the demand for special arrangements as the government gave special facilities to some professional groups, added Prof Rashid.
Noted rights activist Nur Khan Liton said general people would be deprived of healthcare services if hospitals are dedicated for different professional groups.
Some ministers and government high-ups are taking treatment at the Combined Military Hospital while professional groups are now booking private hospitals. On the other hand, only influential people can get proper treatment at public hospitals, he mentioned.
“Where will the general people go during the pandemic?” he asked.
Earlier, in the face of public criticism, the government had to retreat from a move to allow some elite hospitals in the capital to exclusively treat Covid-19 patients from the upper echelons of society.
ARRANGEMENTS
On June 11, Bangladesh Judicial Service Association signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Universal Medical College Hospital Ltd so that lower court judges from across the country get treatment for Covid-19 and other diseases at the hospital in the capital.
With assistance from Law Minister Anisul Huq, the MoU was signed at the law ministry. Under the deal, the lower court judges will be treated at the hospital on a priority basis, says a press release of the ministry.
There are more than 1,800 judges at lower courts across the country, and 21 of them got infected with the virus till Saturday.
As Covid-19 infections among police personnel are on the rise, Bangladesh Police “hired” Impulse Hospital in the capital for two and a half months for treating its members.
On May 5, the Central Police Hospital and Impulse Hospital signed a MoU in this regard. The 250-bed hospital will treat only police personnel infected with the virus, said a press release from the Police Headquarters on May 8.
Till Saturday, 30 members of the police died from the virus and 8,544 others got infected.
The DGHS on June 18 sent a letter to three private hospitals — Holy Family Red Crescent Medical College Hospital, Anwar Khan Modern Medical College Hospital and Japan East West Hospital — asking them to provide treatment to the members of Supreme Court Bar Association and their families.
The letter, signed by DGHS Director (hospital) Aminul Islam, said many members of the SCBA and their families have been infected with the virus. They failed to get admitted to hospitals or get treatment timely. Amid such a situation, the SCBA secretary made a request to it in this regard.
Asked, SCBA President AM Aminuddin said they sought the arrangement as the SCBA members, who tested positive for the virus, were confused about where to go for treatment.
In its letter to the health minister, the BMA blamed the health ministry and the DGHS for the high number of infections among doctors.
The ministry has taken initiatives for separate arrangements for journalists, police, lawyers and other professionals but has not shown any interest in taking similar steps to ensure treatment for the frontline fighters, the letter said.
Contacted, BMA Secretary General Md Ehteshamul Huq Choudhury said around 3,500 health workers, including over 1,100 doctors, got infected with Covid-19, and 44 doctors died from the virus.
“In this situation, it’s important to boost their morale. Otherwise, it would be difficult to get services from them. So we have written to the ministry to ensure treatment for doctors,” he told this newspaper yesterday.
Many of the doctors who don’t work for any hospital will have difficulties in getting healthcare facilities if they get infected with the virus, he noted.
Asked whether common people would be affected if hospitals are dedicated for professional groups, he said, “We have sought beds for doctors, not any dedicated hospital. Why didn’t you raise the question when journalists and other professionals were given the facility?
“Doctors are in the frontline in the fight against the pandemic. They are the ones who need proper treatment first,” he added.
Talking to this newspaper, Shakil Ahmed, member secretary of the Broadcast Journalist Centre, a platform of television journalists, said they struck a deal with the Holy Family Hospital, which would allocate up to 50 beds and two ICU beds for the association members, given that those are vacant.
“So far 16 from TV channels and different media houses took treatment at the hospital,” he told this newspaper yesterday.
In the meantime, the government has improved healthcare facilities at Sarkari Kormochari Hospital for public employees, and every ministry has formed a quick response team to provide assistance to the infected staffers.