The registrar of the state-run National Institute of Mental Health and Hospital (NIMH) has made over Tk10 lakh for referring patients to Mind Aid Hospital, where a senior police officer was beaten to death by its staff, according to the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP).
NIMH Registrar Dr Abdullah Al Mamun was arrested on Tuesday and on the same day, a Dhaka court granted investigators two days to quiz him in custody.
During interrogation, Mamun said he had been referring patients to Mind Aid Hospital, a private facility in the capital’s Adabor area, and received commissions worth over Tk10 lakh in the last 16 months, the office of DMP Tejgaon Zone’s deputy commissioner said in a Facebook post on Thursday.
According to police, Mamun told investigators that he had “people” at the emergency division of the NIMH, who used to persuade relatives of “affluent patients” to take them to private facilities.
“They advised patients’ relatives to get in touch with me and then I would refer them to Mind Aid Hospital … In some cases, I would arrange for the hospital’s ambulance to move the patients there,” the DMP said, quoting the senior doctor of the NIMH.
Investigators said Mamun told them he used to receive a 30% commission — Tk30,000-Tk50,000 — for each patient referred to Mind Aid Hospital. He also ran a private practice at the facility, for which he was paid separately, according to police.
‘Referring patients to private institutes not wrong’
Dr Mamun admitted to referring at least 25 patients to the private facility from July 2019 to November 9, 2020, said police.
Moreover, Dr Mamun used to refer patients to Mind Well Hospital in Adabor and Dhaka Clinic in Tangail as well.
However, the NIMH registrar maintained that what he did was not wrong.
According to the Facebook post of police, Dr Mamun during interrogation said: “I’m not the only one who does this. Many government hospital doctors send patients to private institutions.”
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“Several others, including NIMH Deputy Director Dr Tariq Sumon, Central Drug Addiction Treatment Centre Resident Psychiatrist Dr Md Rahenul Islam and Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmad Medical College Assistant Prof Md Jobayer, used to send patients to Mind Aid Hospital and receive significant commissions,” it quoted Dr Mamun.
Harun-Ur-Rashid, deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Tejgaon Division, said: “The doctors whose names were revealed will be dealt with according to the law following verification of the information.”
“Dr Mamun talked with Mind Aid Marketing Manager Arif Mahmud before sending Senior ASP Anisul Karim there; we have the recording of that phone call,” he added.
Despite knowing that Senior ASP Anisul died at Mind Aid, Dr Mamun took him to the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases by a government hospital ambulance to avoid responsibility, police said.
Anisul Karim, a senior assistant superintendent of police, died at Mind Aid Hospital after he went there to seek treatment for mental health issues on November 9.
The hospital authorities claimed they had been trying to calm Anisul down after he became violent, but security camera footage, circulated widely, showed a group of employees beating him.