A health journal of the UK in a recent study revealed that a doctor in Bangladesh gives only 48 seconds for a patient.  This revelation is startling and painful. Can a patient explain his or her problems in only 48 seconds? The situation is far better in India and some other countries. In those countries a doctor spends more than 2 to 20 minutes for a patient on an average to understand the problems of a patient.

  There is no denying the fact that Bangladesh has achieved remarkable success in the health sector during the past few years. People are receiving healthcare services from the government hospitals and health centres beginning from the capital city down to the remote villages. It is not difficult to get a doctor unlike in the remote past. Apart from government hospitals scores of hospitals and healthcare centres have been set up under private initiatives in recent times. People of affluent section of the society can get better treatment from those. Though there are allegations against some private hospitals of fleecing patients in the name of quality medical care yet healthcare in those is up to the standard.

   What is worrying is that doctors, particularly specialist doctors, have very little time for patients. This in some cases leads to wrong diagnosis and the patients have to suffer ultimately. Some doctors have become so much commercial that money earning is their sole motto and humanity becomes a secondary thing. This belies the Hippocratic Oath they took at the beginning of their medical profession.

  Some say that number of specialist doctors in Bangladesh is inadequate according to the demand and so they find it difficult to manage the rush of patients. This is a lame excuse. What matters is sincerity and sense of responsibility. A doctor’s lack of attention to his patient may prove to be fatal for the patient. There are some physicians whose comforting words give a healing touch to the patient. Our doctors should keep it in mind that their keen attention can save many a life. For a quality healthcare this mentality should be changed.

   Emergence of so many specialist doctors is not possible in a resource-constraint country like ours overnight. The doctors have to render their service within the limited resources. They should be more sympathetic and caring to patients.  That is what a patient wants. It is expected that our doctors should be more humanistic in the interest of public health.