Several allegations of irregularities and money embezzlement, which have increased poor patients’ suffering in the upazila of Comilla, have surfaced against Laksam Upazila Health and Family Planning Officer (UHFPO) Dr Abdul Ali.
The allegations against the physician include luring patients to his private clinic, visiting patients mostly at private hospitals neglecting the upazila hospital under his supervision, money embezzlement through fraud behind the facade of Covid-19 patients’ transportation, and misbehaving with co-workers.
According to the staff of the Laksam Upazila Health Complex, poor patients seeking affordable treatment are being sent to the UHFPO's private clinic, where not only is the cost too much for the poor, but the quality of treatment being provided is also lower.
On July 11, Dr Abdul Ali reportedly verbally abused the on-duty doctor, nurses, and other hospital staff as he was not called to take part in a C-section operation.
Dr Moshiur Rahman, who was on duty at the hospital that day, said: "I was taking rest in the early morning while the UHFPO arrived at the hospital. I have heard that he had been verbally abusing nurses and other hospital staff. When I went there he called me names and harassed me too."
On July 30, Dr Abdul Ali joined the upazila hospital as the UHFPO. Previously, he opened his own Laksam Maternity Clinic at the upazila's bypass area in a building that has been marked risky by the municipality authorities. The clinic is still unauthorised, where patients have been going for treatment every day.
According to sources, Dr Ali applied to the health department for a license for his clinic. There he showed a fourth-class staff of another hospital as the clinic’s chairman and managing director.
Despite presenting him as a part time gynaecologist of his clinic in the license request to the health department, he had not attached a permission letter acquired from his superiors.
In the application, he showed Dr Abu Md Hasan, Dr Najnin Ananya and Dr Jesmin Khatun as a doctor of his clinic and six others as a nurse with diploma certificates, while in reality the presence of none such qualifications has been found by this correspondent.
However, Dr Ali's niece Kaium Saikat is in-charge of the accounting department while another of his relatives has been working as the marketing in-charge at the clinic. Additionally, his elder brother Nazrul Islam has been appointed to perform the administrative duties in the clinic.
Sources said Dr Ali has been using his followers working at the upazila hospital to operate his clinic. Moreover, he has also been using staff of other hospitals in turns to perform different tasks at his hospital.
Seeking anonymity, a number of staff of the upazila hospital said Dr Abdul Ali harassed them in various ways when they refused to work at his private clinic. Besides, if other private clinic staff don't accept work at his clinic he harasses them too by going there in the name of inspecting the clinics.
The UHFPO is accused of spending most of the time visiting patients at his own clinic and dashing across upazila to upazila using the government car to perform C-section surgeries at private hospitals.
On the other hand, Dr Ali is also accused of withdrawing thousands of Taka, under the name of transporting Covid-19 patients through ambulances, while in reality the opposers say that none such service had been provided.
On July 2, Jesmin Akhter, wife of Mominul Hoque in Debpur area of Comilla's Monoharganj upazila, sought treatment from the Laksam upazila hospital with health issues that fall under gynaecology.
Jesmin alleged when she sought Dr Ali's treatment, he referred her to Laksam Maternity Clinic, where treatment and a surgery supervised by the doctor cost her insolvent family a hefty sum of around Tk21,000.
Seeking anonymity, the owner of a private hospital alleged: "Patients are hostages of Dr Abdul Ali. He has forced pregnant women to opt for C-section surgeries. He administers anesthesia despite having no specialization in the field. Affluent or poor patients have to pay an additional bill of Tk3,700 due to this.
"If we want to conduct some operations by bringing more experienced surgeons from Dhaka or Comilla he threatens to take actions against us."
Addressing all the allegations, Laksam UHFPO Dr Abdul Ali said: "I am not the owner of Laksam Maternity Clinic. I don't have any private hospital or clinic so why would I send the patients who come to the upazila hospital? All the allegations against me are pre-planned and are made to serve the personal gain of others."
Comilla Civil Surgeon Dr Md Neyatuzzaman said: “We haven't received any written complaint yet against Dr Abdul Ali. If a complaint is made we will investigate the matter.”
