Despite an increased need for special care for thousands of terminally ill patients, Bangladesh is still lagging in terms of minimising the pain and suffering of such patients, said healthcare experts at a workshop yesterday.
Sixty-year-old Asiya Begum, a resident of the capital’s Korail slum, lives in a tiny makeshift room made of tin, slightly larger than the size of a grave, with no ventilation or fan. At first glance, it might look like she has been buried alive.
Simplistically put, it is a "procedure vs patient" issue meaning a "bureaucracy vs ultimate beneficiary" tussle. We, of course, need procedures to work within, otherwise systems would collapse. But of the two, there should not be any doubt as to which should get priority, especially during a pandemic. "Patients" should have been at the centre of the focus but the focus went to