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At least 11,940 hospitals, clinics and diagnostic centres are providing services across the country without any approval from the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
Among them, 2,916 hospitals and clinics never applied for licences, while 9,024 hospitals and clinics have applied for licences but are yet to receive approval. Some hospitals are running on expired licences, reports bdnews24.com.
The DGHS will launch a crackdown and shut down all of these hospitals and clinics, Director-General Prof Abul Bashar Mohammad Khurshid Alam, said. It may not be possible to raid all at the same time, he said.
“We don’t have a sufficient workforce to shut down all at the same time. I asked the civil surgeons to shut these hospitals as soon as possible.”
No hospitals, clinics or diagnostic centres can operate without approvals from the DGHS, according to the Medical and Private Clinics and Laboratories Ordinance 1982.
It was revealed that Regent Hospital in Dhaka, which defrauded unsuspecting coronavirus patients, had no approval to operate.
Mind Aid Hospital in Adabor, where Anisul Karim, a senior assistant superintendent of police, was beaten to death on Monday, was operating without any approval from the regulators.
On November 10, the DGHS ordered its divisional directors to send a list of approved and unapproved private medical service providers. It is compiling a list of unlicensed clinics and diagnostic centres.
Dhaka division has 3,535 illegal health service centres, while Chattogram has 2,232, Khulna 1,523, Rajshahi 1,438, Rangpur 1,099, Mymensingh 963, Barishal 603 and Sylhet 546.
In most cases, the illegal clinics and diagnostic centres are patronised by the local political leaders, public representatives and doctors, said Khurshid Alam.
“We face a pushback whenever we try to shut them down. The media can help us by publishing the names of the masterminds behind it.”