No matter how much the government boasts about “digital healthcare for everyone,” the truth is that the biggest healthcare facility in the country does not have any official medical certificate (MC) form.
The 1,700-bed Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) deals with hundreds of patients suffering from injuries as well as casualties everyday, that are results of murder, robbery, mugging and clashes. The on-duty doctors issue 15 MCs everyday on an average – all on white pages, because there are no printed forms available with the official DMCH letter head and logo.
The printed MC forms ran out of supply many years ago and the authorities concerned have never been bothered to reprint them, resulting in harassment for patients and certificate forgery.
An MC is a statement from a physician that attests to the result of a medical examination of a patient that can later serve as a document to be used for various purposes, including police investigations.
People who had gone through the process told the Dhaka Tribune that the MCs on white pages often resulted in delays in investigation. When these certificates are submitted as documents, police stations cannot be readily sure if they are genuine.
As a result, a lot of time, often months, are wasted in the exchange of letters between police and the DMCH authorities just to make sure that these make-shift certificates were genuine, victims said.
A number of senior doctors from the hospital have told the Dhaka Tribune that the practice of writing MCs on white pages has allowed the people to misuse them.
Dhaka Tribune has learnt that a racket of counterfeiters had been allegedly issuing fake certificates to the patients and their relatives in exchange for cash payments.
Deputy Director of DMCH Dr Mushfiqur Rahman told the Dhaka Tribune that two such counterfeit certificate writers have already been identified.
One of them, Dr Jahangir Alam, a former government employee who the health ministry had sacked a few years ago on graft charges, he said.
Dr Mushfiqur also informed about another self-proclaimed doctor named Saiful who had been issuing fake certificates from the Chankharpul General Hospital in the capital.
The DMCH deputy boss said the hospital authorities had already informed the law enforcement agencies about the duo.
Sources said the hospital authorities do not generally issue medical certificates to any individual. Rather, a certificate is issued only if the hospital gets an application through the relevant courts in favour of the patient.
The issuance is subject to the approval of the director following official recommendations from the resident doctor and assistant registrar of the hospital.
Hospital sources said the certificates issued on white papers contained serial and registration numbers, date and times, name and gender of the patient concerned, type of the injury and doctor’s note – all handwritten.
Acknowledging the truth of the allegations, DMCH Director Brigadier General Mostafizur Rahman claimed that there was never any printed MC form.
He said he would soon send a proposal to the health ministry requesting printed MC forms.