Medical practitioners play a pivotal role in the well-being of a nation's people, and that they take utmost care of all those who seek help is a duty of the highest regard.
It is a matter of great shame, then, that negligence at the hands of some medical professionals has caused an unacceptable number of deaths in recent times.
Mere weeks after news broke out of a five-year-old girl losing her life from a finger surgery, another patient lost her life reported due to a botched surgery, and subsequent lack of proper treatment, by her doctors.
This is an utter travesty.
Those in the medical field are entrusted with the responsibility of people's lives, but frequent cases like these give a bad name to the practice of medicine as a whole.
Medical malpractice has become an alarmingly common phenomenon in Bangladesh, from acts of carelessness to complete disregard contributing to a rising number of casualties that could have, and most certainly should have, been avoided.
The predominant reason behind this is perhaps that many involved in the wrongful acts, including doctors and hospital authorities, are allowed to walk free despite the massive damage they cause to the lives of others.
There is a serious lack of accountability in this regard, on top of the fact that select professionals in the field demonstrate little to no remorse in the face of what their moments of oversight entail.
This is not a simple matter.
The loss of people's lives cannot continue to be taken lightly, especially not by the people whose sole responsibility is to protect them.
It is high time for the authorities to double down and impose stricter regulations, so that any more cases of medical malpractice, big or small, can be avoided moving forward. Doctors, surgeons, and hospital authorities everywhere must be made to understand the severity of the consequences of their actions.
This is not a field where minor errors can be forgiven. It is, literally, a matter of life and death.
