Poor health service and quacks

From my conversations with both government and private practitioners, I have come to understand that there are some very simple explanations for their behaviour. First, the ratio of doctors to patients in Bangladesh, especially in the rural areas, is very low. This leads to an overwhelming number of patients for any given doctor. While they have dedicated themselves to a service occupation, doctors should not be expected to sacrifice their home lives or happiness.

Even more frustrating for qualified practitioners is the lack of appropriate treatment facilities. Surely, the majority of qualified practitioners chose their profession because they sincerely desire to help people lead healthy lives. I know doctors who purchase their own equipment in order to provide better services for their patients. These doctors should be able to recover the costs of purchasing the equipment, as well as make a living while providing treatment to patients.

It takes both money and hard work to achieve a medical degree in Bangladesh. Hopefully, after completing the coursework, practitioners are qualified to offer good quality health care to their patients. Naturally, it is frustrating for doctors to struggle through years of education to be greeted by a small salary, overwhelming working conditions, lack of facilities, and complaints at each turn. Perhaps this frustration is what leads to the "rudeness, lack of respect, indifference and bias" that survey participants mentioned.

Obviously, the health care consumers of Bangladesh have made it clear that they require less expensive and more accessible care than is currently provided by qualified practitioners, but these practitioners should not be blamed for the poor situation of health care. Instead of pouring resources into training unqualified practitioners, facilities and infrastructure should be developed to enable qualified doctors to perform more efficiently and to provide quality services at an affordable price.