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Dr Dahal has nicely covered the ongoing grumbling and grudges of the
relatives of patient in Nepal. The numerous incidents have been reported
though not all, of course! To be sure enough, this is not the first and
these
incidents will not be the last one to happen and to be reported.
Certainly, the
incidents have increased in the recent years especially when Nepal is in
the
politically transition phase. There are inadequate legal provisions for
both
sides and Doctors are still waiting to materialize their much expected
Health
Protection Act. The recent trends clearly shows that the consumers would
like
to go for the alternative way of exit rather than with legal procedures!!!
The current trend with political transition with Maoist coming to
mainstream
politics has been all in a political language. Be it road traffic
accident, be it
land property issue or medical handlings, people who are supposedly victim
are coming into the streets and protested the issue. The different aspects
of
group (mass of people) has also been seen to be involved in such
activities to
take and encourage relatives of patient for asking huge amount of ransom
whatever the kind of case. In one the cases, the mob had even tried to
vandalize the private property (house) and threatened to kill the doctor!
Nepal
Medical Association (NMA), the umbrella organization of all doctors, had
to
come down to shut all the hospitals nationwide and riot police had to
guard
the doctor. The issue later politically settled but there was something
fishy
behind the curtain with all money going on!!! Who were involved to protest
and trying to do all that? Who is so powerful involved in the protest that
made to pay a lot of ransom despite all settled? Is there some kind of
organized gangster involved to encourage and lead such activities?
We have to accept the reality!!! We can’t keep quiet and hide the
dirt inside
the carpet.
Yes there are so many things to improve in our health sector in
Nepal. Our
counseling part is still in the primitive phase. Written informed consent
is on
the way to practice and documentation is not always that practicable in
our
set up though it is now highly advised and encouraged. With the
mushrooming of Private Medical Colleges and Private Nursing Homes, the
incidents have even more increased though the incident is rampant be it
Government or Private Hospitals. It is true that sometimes some private
hospitals become adventurous and seek publicity to come in the highlight.
Some these are to blame for the encouragement to such issues because many
times (frequently), they have settled the cases silently giving huge
amount of
money to the patient parties. Why is that? Was there anything wrong? Why
didn’t go to the court and settle the cases if there was nothing wrong
from
their side? Many of them are afraid of bad reputation so they settle the
case
as quick as they can with BRIEF CASE!!! That’s why we are facing that kind
of
worst outcome (protest, vandalizing, politicization and even to the extent
to
use different and unknown group!!!).
The culture of standard medical practice, seeking legal solution to
the
problems and awareness among health consumers will address the problem
to some extent. For all these too, there must be adequate legal provisions
to
protect both of these groups and discourage to get involved third and
unseen
group. The politics and politicians needs to be mature enough not to
encourage and work effectively to curb such incidents (to both sides).
There is a big role of media! The media, in Nepal, has always been
pro-
patient relatives no matter what the case is and the media reporters and
not
of health background or lack any kind of basic health knowledge to report
the
health news. In the past, in one of the cases of such issues, one of the
Broad
sheet daily newspapers (most reputed in Nepal) kept on writing for a week
“Patient had operation on his kidney…” while patient had undergone
cholecystectomy!!! Such is the intention and level of knowledge of health
report in Nepal.
Therefore, we have a long way to go and many things to improve here.
We have a long way to go and many things to improve in Nepal
Dear Editor,
Dr Dahal has nicely covered the ongoing grumbling and grudges of the
relatives of patient in Nepal. The numerous incidents have been reported
though not all, of course! To be sure enough, this is not the first and
these
incidents will not be the last one to happen and to be reported.
Certainly, the
incidents have increased in the recent years especially when Nepal is in
the
politically transition phase. There are inadequate legal provisions for
both
sides and Doctors are still waiting to materialize their much expected
Health
Protection Act. The recent trends clearly shows that the consumers would
like
to go for the alternative way of exit rather than with legal procedures!!!
The current trend with political transition with Maoist coming to
mainstream
politics has been all in a political language. Be it road traffic
accident, be it
land property issue or medical handlings, people who are supposedly victim
are coming into the streets and protested the issue. The different aspects
of
group (mass of people) has also been seen to be involved in such
activities to
take and encourage relatives of patient for asking huge amount of ransom
whatever the kind of case. In one the cases, the mob had even tried to
vandalize the private property (house) and threatened to kill the doctor!
Nepal
Medical Association (NMA), the umbrella organization of all doctors, had
to
come down to shut all the hospitals nationwide and riot police had to
guard
the doctor. The issue later politically settled but there was something
fishy
behind the curtain with all money going on!!! Who were involved to protest
and trying to do all that? Who is so powerful involved in the protest that
made to pay a lot of ransom despite all settled? Is there some kind of
organized gangster involved to encourage and lead such activities?
We have to accept the reality!!! We can’t keep quiet and hide the
dirt inside
the carpet.
Yes there are so many things to improve in our health sector in
Nepal. Our
counseling part is still in the primitive phase. Written informed consent
is on
the way to practice and documentation is not always that practicable in
our
set up though it is now highly advised and encouraged. With the
mushrooming of Private Medical Colleges and Private Nursing Homes, the
incidents have even more increased though the incident is rampant be it
Government or Private Hospitals. It is true that sometimes some private
hospitals become adventurous and seek publicity to come in the highlight.
Some these are to blame for the encouragement to such issues because many
times (frequently), they have settled the cases silently giving huge
amount of
money to the patient parties. Why is that? Was there anything wrong? Why
didn’t go to the court and settle the cases if there was nothing wrong
from
their side? Many of them are afraid of bad reputation so they settle the
case
as quick as they can with BRIEF CASE!!! That’s why we are facing that kind
of
worst outcome (protest, vandalizing, politicization and even to the extent
to
use different and unknown group!!!).
The culture of standard medical practice, seeking legal solution to
the
problems and awareness among health consumers will address the problem
to some extent. For all these too, there must be adequate legal provisions
to
protect both of these groups and discourage to get involved third and
unseen
group. The politics and politicians needs to be mature enough not to
encourage and work effectively to curb such incidents (to both sides).
There is a big role of media! The media, in Nepal, has always been
pro-
patient relatives no matter what the case is and the media reporters and
not
of health background or lack any kind of basic health knowledge to report
the
health news. In the past, in one of the cases of such issues, one of the
Broad
sheet daily newspapers (most reputed in Nepal) kept on writing for a week
“Patient had operation on his kidney…” while patient had undergone
cholecystectomy!!! Such is the intention and level of knowledge of health
report in Nepal.
Therefore, we have a long way to go and many things to improve here.
Best wishes,
mati
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests