Machines in govt hospitals remain broken all year

Independent Member of Parliament Barrister Rumin Farhana has said that the government is not making public hospitals self-sufficient. She made these remarks during a recent talk show.

At the programme, she said, “The government deliberately does not make public hospitals self-sufficient, because they have illegal arrangements with private hospitals so that patients can be referred there.”

She further said, “Tests and examinations will be done at private facilities. That is why you will notice that machines in government hospitals remain out of order all year round – so that people are forced to seek treatment at private hospitals.”

Barrister Rumin Farhana also spoke about measles at the talk show. She said, “According to official figures, 475 deaths have been reported so far. However, if unofficial counts are taken into account, the number could be much higher. If you also add the children who could not even reach a hospital, the total death toll is even greater – and the government must be held responsible for this.”

She said, “Most of those who are dying are children from disadvantaged families. That is, children from poor and marginalised families are being affected the most.”

She further said, “Today, upper-middle-class or upper-class people can go to a private hospital and spend one million taka on treatment. That is why we neither hear nor want to hear the cries of those marginalised mothers. We could not ensure their children’s vaccinations. We could not ensure nutritious food for them. We have made their mothers immune to various diseases in name only. So now even medicine no longer works.”

She said, “We have failed to ensure even the basic things a child is entitled to from birth. We have not even left any means for a poor child to receive treatment at a government hospital. Therefore, the government must be held accountable for this entire systemic failure.”