A section of unscrupulous doctors and employees of the emergency department at Gaibandha Sadar Hospital are allegedly involved in the business of selling fake medical certificates for money.
Sources said the demand for medical certificates is high among victims of clashes, as a medical report is required to file criminal cases with the police stations or the courts.
A number of unscrupulous doctors of the hospital’s emergency department allegedly take advantage of this urgency, and write medical certificate according to the clients’ wishes and later sell them in collusion with other staffs of the department.
A complaint letter to the district civil surgeon, dated sometime last month, and filed by a victim named Abdul Latif, revealed that Dr Sardar Ahsanul Kabir, a medical officer at the hospital serving for 25 years, used a staff member named Shahinoor as his agent for running illegal certificate trades.
The letter also stated that Dr Kabir, in exchange of money, gave two separate certificates to latif and his rivals with opposing medical findings.
On October 10, Abdul Latif, son of Karim Bakhos from Folia village under sadar upazila, was seriously injured in an attack by his rivals and was later admitted to the hospital for treatment, his family sources said.
Dr Kabir, who was on duty in the emergency department, allegedly charged Latif’s family Tk5,000 in exchange for a medical certificate (grievous) with which an attempt to murder case could be filed.
However, Dr Kabir subsequently collected Tk15,000 from Latif’s opponents and produced an opposing medical report certifying the victim’s condition as normal, the letter complained.
When contacted, Dr Kabir denied the allegations against him, adding that Shahinoor – who worked at the emergency department – might have committed such a misdeed.
Replying to a query, Gaibandha Civil Surgeon Dr Ahad Ali said disciplinary action would be taken against the doctors and the employees of the hospital, if investigation found them to be guilty.