The Dhaka Children Hospital is virtually being run without any administrative chain of command.
Despite there being a rule that the board of management of the hospital must sit at least once a month, there has not been any such meeting since December 8 last year.
The resignation of the chairman of the board Professor Dr Mahmudur Rahman in April has made things even worse.
Since a new head of the board could not be appointed due to various reasons, the hospital authorities are finding it really hard to take administrative decisions on issues like development, recruitment, promotion, and so on.
Besides, the conflict between the director of the hospital Dr Manzur Hossain and the leaders of the hospital unit of Swadhinata Chikitsak Parishad (Swachip), the ruling party backed doctors’ association, has virtually divided the hospital into two poles.
Sources said the supporters of the two conflicting groups have set up their own rules and were working on their whims, jeopardising the activities of the largest healthcare facility for children in the country.
The finance committee of the hospital prepares a Tk250m budget every year, which the board of management approves.
Despite being six months into the year, the work for preparing this year’s budget has not yet been finished because the chairman’s resignation has given rise complications as to whether there would be any board meeting or not.
The incumbent board of management was formed in April 6, 2009.
Sources said hospital Director Dr Manzur Hossain has been in the USA on vacation for more than a month.
Acting director Dr Waqar Ahmed also went to the USA last month.
Dr Bilkis Banu from the Department of Pathology is currently serving as the acting director of the hospital.
Sources also said the doctors of the two conflicting groups had been doing all kinds of backdoor lobbying to bring their favoured person to the post of the chairman of the board of management.
Former secretary general of Bangladesh Medical Association (BMA) Dr Sharfuddin Ahmed, Director General of Birdem Hospital Dr Nazmun Nahar and Dr Shayela Khatun were rumoured to be potential candidates, sources said.
Authorities said a new chairman of the board could not be appointed because the health minister had been in Switzerland to attend the World Health Summit.
Dhaka Tribune has learned that even though the previous chairman stepped down citing personal reasons, the resignation was actually prompted by his conflict with the leaders of the hospital unit of Swachip.
There are allegations against the Swachip leaders that they had been pressurising the board chairman to recruit and promote some of their favoured candidates.
When the chairman refused to entertain their recommendations, the Swachip leaders had allegedly harassed him and threatened him in many ways.
However, Dr Ajiz Ahmed, chairman of the hospital unit Swachip, rebuffed all allegations and claimed that unprecedented corruption took place in the recruitment and promotion process during the tenure of the previous BNP-Jamaat led government.
He also claimed that Swachip had never resorted to any kind of corruption and had never pressurised the board of chairman.
Ajiz alleged that it was in fact the chairman of the board who deprived them all kinds of facilities they deserved.
The fact that there had not been a meeting of the board for more than six months was severely hampering the activities of the hospital, he added.
Seeking anonymity, a number of members of the board of management told the Dhaka Tribune that hospital Director Dr Manzur Hossain was a classmate of current Swachip President Dr Iqbal Arsalan.
With Dr Arsalan’s backing, the director took many unilateral decisions, completely ignoring the other Swachip leaders and the board, they said.
They also said the followers of the Swachip president had always tried to remain in the good book of the director and thus managed to get many things done in their interests.
The board members also told the Dhaka Tribune that there were allegations that the hospital unit Swachip president and secretary general had been involved in illegally recruiting and promoting doctors, secretly doing business with the contractors and illegally building shops on the hospital premises and renting them out.
Denying all such allegations, Swachip president and secretary general, said everything was part of propaganda against them.
The Dhaka Children Hospital was established in June 1977.
Around 700 patients come to the hospital from different parts of the country every day for treatment.
