These days it seems medical services is all people can talk about in the Bangladeshi blogosphere. With reason, I’m sure.My personal worst experience was at a diagnostic centre in Dhaka where we went so that my father could have an MRI as recommended by the doctor. We didn’t know that people who’ve had angioplasty operations, like my dad, shouldn’t have MRIs because the rays could dislodge the artificial stents placed inside the heart and kill the patient – and the hospital staff didn’t warn my father or even ask whether he had any special circumstances - which common sense says should be mandatory with all middle aged patients.
They accepted our payment and led him into the room to have the MRI. But before they could begin, my mother read the English instructions on a poster outside the door which specifically warned people like my dad from doing that kind of MRI. She rushed in to stop them and thankfully, she got in before they started.
Inside she found Dad inquiring whether he could hold on to his spray in case of an attack while inside the machine– the doctor STILL didn’t realize that being a heart disease patient, dad could’ve had one of the MOST common surgeries in this world.
I can’t even imagine what would have happened if they proceeded without asking the patient any regular background check questions….They apologized of course and offered a refund. Of course, we had a responsibility to ask about safety but we are not doctors and we don’t the procedures. And things like diabetes and heart disease are not uncommon things – they’re quite normal these days.
Lucky for us, my mother is a sensible woman. And a person who could read English instructions being used as decorative items inside the hospital. What if it was some innocent man from a rural area who can’t read? How can one accept negligence of this magnitude from doctors who appear so smart and intelligent?
When you go to a doctor or a hospital, you have to be alert and keep your eyes open - that’ the only way you and your loved ones can be safe. And with the Internet, it couldn’t hurt to do some background research on procedures before one actually goes, to make sure things are being done safely…yet another precaution to take!
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Pingback on Feb 27th, 2008 at 6:21 pm
[...] think the fall has hurt me in the head. I need to go to the hospital, oh wait, the hospitals are not safe anymore! [...]
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January 30, 2008 at 5:55 am
No wonder we are held captive by our medical businessmen and their lavish five-star-hotels-cum hospitals. Can you please publish the name of the diagnostic center which nearly killed your father?
Thanks.
January 30, 2008 at 1:58 pm
Damn man! That must have scared you, it has scared me! I think I’ll go recheck my blood group because it might not be O+ve after all!
And when I fall under a truck one day and need blood, I might actually die because of a wrong scan 
what a thought!
Plus I don’t think it’s the fault of any center or hospital. It’s the system. If it were that past records HAVE to be checked then they would be. If it were that hospitals HAVE to maintain a standard then they would.
Plus I am sure there are such rules, but no one enforces them.
January 31, 2008 at 4:14 pm
Scary. Very scary. & come to think of it dude… they put a retard like me in med school.
February 5, 2008 at 11:37 pm
Yeah, I considered publishing their name. But no, I’d rather not. Since then, they’ve taken appropriate measures to ensure that the incident isn’t repeated. So I suppose it’d be unfair. But this could happen anywhere, really. So that’s the point of the post. Thanks for reading. Take care.