






































Microsoft Word - Editorial(1)


Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2015;6(3) 

 

Editorial  

 

Dear Readers, 

Welcome to this issue of our beloved Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics! In this sweltering heat we are all 

seeking for some cool and comfort. We bring this issue of BJB on different ethical practices and bring up 

related questions. Are we respecting the rights of every human being when we are either doing research 

or practicing health service provision? What are the minimum norms and standards to be maintained or 

are we circumventing those? The issue looks into different issues and provides us with indepth 

information, queries, fears and reservations. 

In the article on Knowledge, attitude and practice of medical ethics among medical intern students 

in a Medical College in Kathmandu, Ramesh P Aacharya and  Yagya L Shakya , report on a 

Knowledge Attitude and Practice survey of 46 medical undergraduate interns of Maharajgunj Medical 

Campus. The result of the survey is quite interesting. ‘Doctors know the best irrespective of patients’ 

opinion was agreed upon by 35 %, ‘Confidentiality cannot be kept in modern era and should be 

abandoned’ was strongly disagreed by 34.8% and disagreed by 60.9%. The Authors hope that the 

findings will assist the faculties to strengthen the teaching of medical ethics and guiding the interns for 

ethical professional conduct. 

 

In the article titled Organizational Justice and Employee’s Service Behavior in the Healthcare 

Organizations in Bangladesh is an agenda for Research, Md. Nuruzzaman and Md. Humayun Kabir 

Talukder present a conceptual framework and a set of hypotheses regarding the relationships among 

distributive justice, procedural justice, interactional justice, employee’s citizenship behaviour, role 

prescribed behaviour and counterproductive behavior in the healthcare organizations in Bangladesh. The 

authors state that the purpose is to assist the policy makers and service providers in identifying desirable 

and undesirable HRM practices in order to maintain optimum level of employee commitment for ensuring 

quality and efficient service delivery to the communities. Though the article is theoretical it may be useful 

for the policy makers and service providers. If an operational research could be carried out to test the 

hypothesis the practical utility of the concept could be tested in Bangladesh. 

Zoheb Rafique in the article Ethical Justification of Conducting Research Trials in Lower and Middle 

Income Countries Including Pakistan: The Responsibilities of Research Enterprises explores the 

ethical aspects of research sponsored by commercial agencies. He looks into the factors that influence 

selection of a study site for a sponsored trial particularly in traditional countries like Pakistan where 

cultural values add to the problem in assuring that research is conducted in an ethical manner. In this 

paper, the Author discusses the responsibilities of researchers and funders in low and middle income 

countries like Pakistan and the ethical justifications of doing research trials in developing countries. He 

concludes that research participants should be fully informed about the research trial and their 

participation and it is their right to know all risks and benefits so that they have the option of rejecting 

participation. 

The article on Ethical aspects of Dhaka University Tele-medicine System by Ahmed Raihan Abir 

provides and analysis of the tele- medicine system in Dhaka University. The Author is a member of an 

extended group at Dhaka University (DU) which has been developing telemedicine equipment and data 

acquisition software to promote telemedicine practice in Bangladesh. Recently the Telemedicine group of 

DU and a local NGO named SAMAMA with support from Service innovation fund (SIF) of the Prime 

Minister Office (PMO) of Bangladesh took the initiative to establish eight rural telemedicine centers and 



Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2015;6(3) 

 

one expert center for the field trial of telemedicine in Bangladesh. The aim of this paper is to examine the 

ethical challenges of such health care system and the effort to overcome these problems before starting 

the field trial.  The author looks into the details of Data confidentiality and security, Responsibilities of 

Doctor and Rural Technician, Quality of service and Implications of telemedicine in Bangladesh. He 

concludes that DU telemedicine project will essentially bring the services of qualified medical experts to 

the doorsteps of the common people throughout the country, even in the remote rural areas. Although a 

telemedicine cannot match a face to face consultation, DU tele-medicine system is much better than no 

consultation at all. 

Sifat Rahman in the article on Ethical Issues of Fair Subject Selection in Research provides an 

overview of the criterion for maintaining ethical standards for conducting research. The Author reviews 

the three fundamental conditions to be met for adhering to strict ethical standards which are: Respect for 

Persons by protecting the autonomy of  people, treating them with courtesy and respect and obtaining  

informed consent.; Beneficence which incorporates the philosophy of "Do no harm" while maximizing 

benefits for the research project and minimizing risks to the research subjects; and  Justice by  ensuring 

that reasonable, non-exploitative, and well-considered procedures are administered fairly. Finally the 

Author concludes that Researchers must be truthful and conduct no deception. 

Dear Readers, as you can see from the above ethics and maintaining the values in research and services 

are of utmost importance in the improvement of the quality of life. Through our queries, questions and 

sense of respect for every living being can our endeavors to ensure ethics in all spheres of development 

be successful. 

Dear Readers, please keep on sending your articles, notes or thoughts to us. Your participation will make 

a difference in the quality of our lives. 

Best regards 

Tahera Ahmed 

Editor  


