A mobile court has sealed off a blood bank run by some employees of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) at the capital’s Bakshibazar and one of its owners is sentenced to jail along with two employees.
Led by executive magistrate AHM Anwar Pasha, the mobile court, which was accompanied by the personnel of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and Drugs Administrations, also seized 64 bags of blood from the blood bank ‘Dhaka Blood Centre’.
Magistrate Pasha told the Dhaka Tribune that the owner identified as Mohammad Khokan, 48, of Noakhali, was jailed for two years and each of his two employees identified as Md Rabiul Islam, 19, Rasel Hossain, 22, was jailed for one year for collecting, preserving and selling bloods in improper ways.
Sources and witnesses alleged that the blood bank authorities had been collecting blood from the drug addicted people for last four years.
Swapan Kumer Tarafder, a deputy director of the Health Directorate, who was present during the drive, said although the blood bank had registration, but it had no experienced experts while blood had been collecting and selling without testing the bloods of the donors.
Magistrate AHM Anwar Pasha said at least five tests, including HIV, are mandatory for collecting blood from any person. But, they were not following the process.
“They had been making two bags of blood by a single bag of blood,” said the magistrate.
He added: “Some employees of the DMCH are suspected to be involved with the illicit business.”
During the drive, owner Mohammad Khokan confessed that he had been involved with the blood bank as a partner for last 13 months while two other partners were Sirajul Islam Badal, a pathologists of the DMCH, and employee Md Sarwar.