UNSCRUPULOUS DOCTORS
The Kathmandu Post
12 July 2008
Medical doctors’ ongoing strike supposedly to ensure their “security” looks somewhat embarrassing. Their strike has affected so many innocent patients; some of them have probably died of doctor’s negligence. How justifiable is it to violate people’s fundamental right to life just because of some doctor’s gross negligence? Do these doctors have the right to play with the lives of innocent? The doctors are indeed blackmailing and are going against their own professional oaths. The doctors cannot take the serious jobs of delivering medical services so lightly, some mechanism must intervene right away. Why not to suspend the concerned doctor(s) until the truth is known and made known to the relatives of the victims who died while undergoing treatment at the Everest Nursing Home? Is not it possible for the Nepal Medical Association (NMA) to do so and continue delivering services to the visiting patients rather than safeguarding their member doctors who may be or may not be making the patients their guinea-pigs? Would not it be a good start for the NMA to sincerely investigate such incidents and bring out the findings rather than calling for strike? This could help maintain good image of NMA and all of the medical professionals. It could be a sincere and welcome step towards giving people the assurances of best medical practices. Practices of informing patient’s relatives about actual conditions of the admitted and the degree of illnesses are almost non-existence in Nepal. This has caused a great deal of mistrust and misunderstanding in between the patients’ relatives and doctors resulting unwanted confrontations.
Rai Biren Bangdel
Maharjgunj, Kathmandu
