Licenced hospitals come under scrutiny as well
In separate drives, consumer’s rights protection directorate finds expired medicine, reagents at private hospitals having up-to-date licences
With few beds and cabins, a locked pharmacy, a dirty operation theatre, a medical officer and two nurses, a private hospital has been operating in the capital's Mohammadpur.
Jamuna General Hospital, which also runs an intensive care unit with just a normal bed, was found to have suppositories and injections that expired long ago.
The Directorate of National Consumers' Rights Protection (DNCRP), as part of its regular operation, inspected the hospital on Monday amid the ongoing health directorate raids.
Apart from Jamuna, two other licenced healthcare centres – BDM Hospital on the Babar Road and Dhaka Lab on the Humayun Road in the same area – were also found serving patients with expired reagents. The DNCRP fined them Tk50,000 each.
"In the inspection, we have found expired drugs that are very harmful to patients and fined the hospitals. The health directorate doesn't check those in its raids," said Fahmina Akhter, assistant director at the DNCRP.
Meanwhile, observing the DNCRP's findings, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) has decided to raid licensed hospitals across the country as well.
With a 72-hour ultimatum, the health authorities launched the drive against unlicensed private medical facilities on Saturday and sealed off 1,149 establishments in different districts till Monday.
"Approving a private hospital doesn't mean that we have provided them with licences to kill people. It was for serving patients," Dr Ahmedul Kabir, additional director-general (administration) at the DGHS told The Business Standard.
"We will conduct drives on licensed hospitals soon after that on illegal ones."
Mentioning that the 72-hour was a symbolic expression, he said the drive against irregularities would continue until they identify all the illegal hospitals.
"The unlicensed hospitals that have a minimum standard of service would be brought under registration and others will be sealed off permanently," Professor Ahmedul Kabir said, adding that all the private healthcare services will be marked with A, B, and C categories.
"Besides, we will publish a list of valid hospitals on our website."
He was hopeful that the country would see a good change in private medical care within the next three months.
