Ethics II: The periphery inside valley

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Last time I talked about some malpractice I have seen in middle of valley. Today I am talking about an experience of mine from some peripheries inside valley.

I was in a small hospital at Thankot, Kathmandu, for some of my personal work. I knew that the owner of this hospital forces the doctor to prescribe unnecessary and costly drugs and lab investigations. The doctors even do it.

On the list of doctors in notice board, name of a senior surgeon and a senior gynecologist from our public hospital was present in the top of the list in big font size. I was surprised, what does a surgeon do here, in a hospital without Operation Theatre. And what would a gynecologist do in this hospital without even a delivery room.

The owner of the hospital was quite friendly to me. So I asked him, “Do these doctors from such a big and busy Hospital really come here, or u just have kept the name for advertisement?”
His answer was unexpectedly shocking. He said, “Obviously they don’t come here. But at least I know them. There are plenty of hospitals around who have written the name of senior famous doctors whom they don’t even know. Sometimes, when those doctors accidently see their names, they are themselves surprised and say How come is my name and NMC number here?”

I could react in no way other than laughing.

I was in the staff-canteen of same hospital. An old man, who was friend of the owner of the hospital, was sadly telling the story of his daughter to my brother. I too was interested in that story. He was telling that he is treating his daughter in this hospital from more than 2 year but she is not getting treated. The history of problem was not so specific. I could not come to any diagnosis at all. In the end I just advised him to take his daughter to a good hospital. I advised him that Bir hospital, TUTH and Patan Hospital are some good tertiary care centers and you can visit any one.

Soon after that conversation, I had to leave. Later on I came to know that, the owner went angry on me. I had referred one of his patients who come every2-3 weeks to his hospital and spend few thousand of rupees. It was like a दुहुनो गाई (means source of permanent income) for him.

It’s ok to earn, but how can someone do this in a risk of health and life of some one? Does he even know, what is being happening? I closely saw how people kill their own humanity for money.