Killers of Khulna physician must be tried

A physician of a private clinic in Khulna has been beaten to death at a time when the country's physicians are risking their lives in the fight against the coronavirus. There can be no more heinous crime than this. We strongly condemn this incident.

According to media reports, the relatives of a woman who died while undergoing a caesarean section, assaulted Rakib Khan, the owner of Raisa Clinic in Khulna, last Monday. Rakib Khan was brutally beaten and died as a result. He was also the principal of Bagerhat Government Medical Assistant Training School.

While many private medical centres have suspended medical services due to the coronavirus outbreak, Rakib Khan continued to provide health care to patients at his clinic. The death of the physician in an attack by the patients' relatives is not only a great tragedy for him and his family, but also a very negative aspect of the relationship between service providers and service recipients in our healthcare system.

Attacks and vandalism of hospitals and clinics due to wrong treatment or negligence of physicians and attacks on physicians occur occasionally in the country. No one has the right to attack physicians and medical institutions for any reason, no matter what. If anyone commits such a crime, he must be brought to justice.

If the relatives of the patient undergoing treatment at the clinic felt she died for wrong treatment they could have sought legal action. The only legal way was to file a case. Instead, they attacked Rakib Khan and beat him to death in the clinic. Those responsible such shameful incident must be tried immediately. The brother of the slain doctor has filed a murder case with the police station. Police say they have arrested one person. We want all the accused to be arrested immediately and brought to justice and everyone to be punished according to the law.

Physicians in Khulna have staged a protest against Rakib's murder. The government and the people must take their words seriously. They said, unpleasant incidents involving patient deaths or attacks on physicians and nurses have become a trend in the country. Due to the lack of justice and indifference of the administration, a physician like Rakib had to die.

It is the sole responsibility of the government and the administration to take effective steps to overcome this situation and end such lawnessness. At the same time, the public should feel that no one has the right to attack a physician or a medical institution under any circumstances. If there is a complaint, the only way to remedy it is to seek justice through the law.

The medical community in Khulna demanded the arrest of all the accused involved in Rakib Khan's murder. It is the responsibility of the police to arrest all the accused quickly, to allay the grievances of the physicians there and to help restore normal medical activities.