Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) will seal off Shahabuddin Medical College Hospital in Dhaka’s Gulshan area over a series of irregularities including running unauthorized Covid-19 tests.
“After shifting the patients, the hospital will be sealed off and a regular case will be filed over the irregularities. We will soon arrest the accused, including the hospital’s managing director,” said RAB Magistrate Sarwoer Alam in a press conference around 10:15 pm on Sunday.
The magistrate said the hospital authorities continued to conduct Covid-19 tests even after their permission was cancelled five to six days ago. They also embezzled large amounts of money from patients by providing them with fake certificates and keeping them in ICUs.
On June 24, a person tested Covid-19 positive in this hospital but the next day the same person tested negative in United Hospital. In just one day, Shahabuddin hospital charged the patient with a bill of Tk139,000, calculating the cost of a single service several times.
Moreover, the license of the hospital was not renewed after June 2019, he added.
RAB mobile court also seized unauthorized drugs from the hospital's pharmacy and fined them Tk2 lakh.
RAB raids Shahabuddin hospital, assistant director arrested
Earlier on the day, RAB and health department officials jointly conducted a drive in the hospital over reports of the hospital conducting Covid-19 antibody tests without government approval.
During the raid, the RAB arrested Dr Md Abul Hasnat, an assistant director of the hospital, for interrogation.
Dr Md Abul Hasnat confessed to performing only one antibody test to provide a Covid-19 patient plasma therapy, said the RAB magistrate.
However, RAB did not find any documents at the hospital related to the illegal antibody tests.
Sarwoer Alam said the special drives on Covid-19 test or treatment scams issue a message to other hospitals that they should not deceive the patients.
A victim of the hospital’s irregularities, Enamul Haque from Dhaka’s Nikunja area, was present at the briefing.
He said his mother submitted samples for Covid-19 testing on June 14. A day later, the hospital called and said that his mother tested negative but did not provide any report.
Enamul mailed about the problem to several departments, including the health department and Health Ministry, but no reply came and that is when his family complained to RAB.
Dr Dewan Mehedi Hasan, representative of the health department, said they conducted a drive themselves 8-10 days ago and pointed out the irregularities, however, the process continued.
