‘All microbiological reports from Sirajul Islam Medical College Hospital fake’

A joint team of RAB and health ministry taskforce raided Sirajul Islam Medical in Dhaka on 25 August 2020.
A joint team of RAB and health ministry taskforce raided Sirajul Islam Medical in Dhaka on 25 August 2020.Sazid Hossain

A mobile court of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and a taskforce constituted by the health ministry jointly conducted a drive at Sirajul Islam Medical College and Hospital in the capital on Tuesday afternoon.

The team found a huge amount of reagents and surgical equipment expired a few years ago from four operation theatres of the hospital and unearthed various irregularities in its medical practices, said RAB executive magistrate Sarwar Alam.

The joint team, led by Sarwar Alam, fined the hospital Tk 3 million. The drive was conducted from 12:30pm to 4:00pm.

After the drive, taskforce member and health division joint secretary Umme Salma Tanzia told the newsmen that they found the hospital was not following the protocol for treating COVID-19 patients. Besides, the microbiology lab and the corona unit were adjacent to each other.

Sarwar Alam said the samples were supposed to be kept at the microbiology lab for 48-72 hours. But the test results are being given keeping the samples at the lab for 8-10 hours though it mentions the samples were kept at the lab for 48 hours

Mentioning this a regular drive of the taskforce, the joint secretary said they (the hospital authorities) are not being able to provide quality health care to the patients.

Sarwar Alam said the samples were supposed to be kept at the microbiology lab for 48-72 hours. But the test results are being given keeping the samples at the lab for just 8-10 hours though it mentions the samples were kept the lab for 48 hours.

The RAB magistrate also claimed that all the microbiological reports the hospital provided so far were fake.

He further said they fined the hospital Tk 3 million for various discrepancies in its medical practices.