Finding several rooms vacant during a sudden drive at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) on Thursday, Chairman of Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) AKM Asaduzzaman directed the hospital director to issue show-cause notices to absent doctors, adding that the commission would also take legal action against them.
During the drive at around 12:15pm, doctors were missing from several emergency department rooms, including Dr Tanvir of the emergency department and the head of the neurosurgery department.
Staff offered excuses that the missing doctors had stepped outside or gone for tea, while patients were seen running around in search of medical supplies. The ACC chairman said as a result, the public was not receiving proper medical services.
Asaduzzaman expressed concern during the visit, saying it was difficult to tell whether duty doctors in the emergency department were doctors, nurses, or brokers because none of them wore proper dress code.
The ACC chairman said patients constantly complain about not receiving proper medical care and about the absence of doctors.
He said the prime minister is also concerned about the issue and has personally visited several facilities, including Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital. He added that following the visit to DMCH, the ACC will conduct similar drives at other hospitals.
Responding to questions regarding the dominance of brokers at the government hospital and the alleged direct involvement of doctors in brokering and diverting patients to private clinics, the ACC chairman said action would be taken against them.
He explained that private hospital operations are a business and that the government would take measures to curb this, as it falls outside the jurisdiction of the ACC.
Meanwhile, Director of DMCH Brigadier General AKM Farhad Hossain said he was new to the hospital but had already managed to bring about some changes.
He promised prompt steps to address the issues raised by the ACC chairman and appealed for help from everyone, including doctors, to make the hospital broker-free.
