The Rapid Action Battalion on Tuesday unearthed gross irregularities, including forgery of medical test reports, at two hospitals and a diagnostic centre in the capital.

Another hospital was found operating without updated license while a raid was going on at another hospital when this report was filed at about 10:00pm.

The detection of gross irregularities came on the back of recent crackdowns on private health facilities, including Regent Hospital, Shahabuddin Medical College Hospital and City Hospital in Gazipur.

Tuesday’s RAB drive began at Dr Sirajul Islam Medical College Hospital in Malibagh in the capital around noon. RAB personnel next raided Padma Diagnostics in the same area. Both the facilities were found involved in forging medical test reports.

America-Bangladesh Specialized Hospital in the same area did not have a proper licence and a raid was in progress at Medinova Medical Services.

The mobile court accompanying the RAB operations fined Dr Sirajul Islam Medical College Hospital Tk 30 lakh for irregularities, including delivering forged medical test reports, said officials.

The hospital did not follow the requisite protocol for tests, including carrying out the culture of samples at the stipulated time for certain tests.

Besides, samples were not kept at the hospital in a proper way and doctored reports were being produced.

The hospital was also using outdated reagents and obsolete medical equipment.

Mobile court magistrate Sarwoer Alam said, ‘They put three blood samples in a single petri-dish for each test. This means that one or more of the patients received incorrect results. How can one understand who has what?’

He said that the hospital was fined Tk 30 lakh and was given a seven-day period to correct its wrongdoings.

‘Or else, we will take stern legal action against its irregularities, including shutting down its COVID-19 ward,’ he said.

Dr Sirajul Islam Medical College Hospital is a 16-storey, 500-bed hospital opposite the Mouchak market, which also has a dedicated COVID-19 unit.

Health ministry joint secretary Umme Salma Tanzia, who was with the raid, said that the hospital was also not following the due protocol for treating COVID-19 patients.

It has housed a microbiology lab next to the COVID-19 ward, she said, adding, ‘It poses serious risks of coronavirus infection.’

The RAB team also stated that the hospital’s isolation unit was not maintaining complete isolation, thereby exposing healthier patients to risks of infection.

The COVID-19 patients were also being charged exorbitantly, it said.

Mahmuda Khatun, wife of Robiul Islam, a retired BRTC mechanic, told New Age that her husband was admitted to a normal ward of the hospital on Sunday.

The bed charge was TK 15,500, which she had to pay.

On Monday afternoon Robiul was tested positive for COVID-19 and was shifted to the isolation unit.

‘He is not being given oxygen or anything, but the hospital said that I have to pay them Tk 40,000 for each day,’ she alleged.

The mobile court also unearthed similar anomalies at the Padma Diagnostic Centre, including a process of forging medical test reports.

The diagnostic centre, too, did not follow the stipulated protocol for tests, including doing culture of samples for certain period of time for particular tests.

‘Imaginary test reports were being produced from the lab and samples were kept in such a way that these would get mixed up,’ said RAB-3 officer assistant superintendent of police Avijit Das.

America-Bangladesh Specialized Hospital had an outdated licence, he said, adding that the hospital was fined Tk 3 lakh and given 15 days to update the licence.

The RAB team was conducting a raid on Medinova Medical Services when this report was filed about 10:00pm.

Yesterday’s drive came on the back of a drive against errant hospitals in recent days.

Earlier, the RAB in a drive unearthed massive irregularities, including faking COVID-19 certificates at Regent Hospital, which secured a deal with the government to treat COVID-19 patients despite having no licence to run the hospital.

Another hospital in the capital’s Gulshan area, Shahabuddin Medical College Hospital, was also found involved in conducting illegal COVID-19 antibody tests.

On August 10, a health ministry task force fined Gazipur’s City Medical College Hospital Tk7.5 lakh for a wide range of medical and regulatory violations. The hospital is owned by former home minister Dr Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir MP.

The hospital was reportedly being used to carry out COVID-19 tests although it did not have the required approval from the authorities c