An outdoor ticket in the morning shift at the Bangladesh Medical University (BMU) is sold for Tk30 per patient. But due to huge demand, a large number of these tickets go into the pockets of black marketeers.
There are allegations that a syndicate within the hospital sells these tickets to patients at Tk130 and they are easily available. Tickets for the afternoon shift are supposed to be Tk200 each but they get costlier by Tk300 and are sold for Tk500.
This reporter visited the hospital on May 19, 2025. While visiting the outpatient unit, she witnessed a patient named Mukta purchasing a ticket from two cleaners. While Mukta was waiting in a queue, the black marketeers, the cleaners, were standing next to the queue.
Mukta said that the cleaners had promised her that if she agreed to pay the extra money then she did not have to wait in the queue.
A person named Asa Rima Akhter from Old Dhaka in the capital said that she purchased the Tk200 afternoon ticket for Tk500 from a cleaner and the previous day shehad bought the Tk30 morning ticket for Tk130.
A patient named Arif from Tangail was also seen buying tickets from the same cleaner.
Usually, a patient waits in another queue to see a doctor after collecting the ticket. But there are allegations that these unscrupulous staff members charge bribes to shorten the waiting time.
BMU Director Brigadier General Abu Noman Md Musleh Uddin said: "The allegations of ticket black marketeering are true."
He said: "We have received complaints about this and we have taken steps to prevent it. We will introduce a separate ticketing system for hospital staff in front of the administrative building, from where they can get tickets for themselves or their relatives with their NIDs. It is expected that the black marketeering of tickets will be largely stopped through this system.”
"It will take some time to eradicate the habits that have been taking place for 17 years. We are trying our best to bring everything back to normal."
