Medical ethics
The Himalayan Times
3 May 2013
This is in reference to the news report
“BPKIHS stops admitting patients amid doc’s protest” (THT, 1 May
2013). It was
quite painful to know that hundreds of visiting patients have been deprived of receiving
medical treatments just because of the immoral and insensible acts of the
hospital management and the agitating junior doctors. There should be other
alternatives to give pressure to the hospital management to be responsible for
fulfilling their demands (if the demands were genuine ones) rather than
depriving the patients from their rights of receiving basic treatment. Is this
not completely against medical ethics of the agitating doctors who were
supposed to be guided by their professionalism (taking an oath of serving the
people while graduating)?
Both the hospital management and the
agitating doctors should sit on the negotiating table and try to amicably
settle the burning issues keeping the rights of the patients to receive primary
treatment at the center stage. Confrontations invite further unwanted
situations that could be harmful to both the parties. Padlocking the offices of
top officials does not suit to the medical ethics of the doctors and not help
in solving the problems. This does not seem the act of educated professionals.
Recently, there was another news report
about a hospital in the far west that had been running for the last 40 years being
shut down because of the government’s apathy. There must be something seriously
wrong on the part of either the government or the hospital management in
completely closing down or temporarily shutting down the hospital services. What
a pity? This kind of painful act rarely takes part in other parts of the globe.
Rai Biren Bangdel
Maharjgunj, Kathmandu
