HSC-pass ‘doctor’ prescribing surgery!

Abul Hossain, owner and managing director of Crescent Hospital in the capital's Mohammadpur, like any doctor, has a private room inside the hospital building, with an X-ray viewing box right next to his seat. 

There is only one issue. Abul is not a doctor. He does not have a medical degree; the only qualification he can show is his Higher Secondary Certificate. Despite this, he used to  prescribe surgery for orthopaedic patients, posing as a professor of surgery.

A mobile court of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) during a drive at the hospital early yesterday found out about Abul's malpractice and sentenced him to one year's imprisonment.

Law enforcers were tipped off by a physician. "A doctor, who was on call at the hospital, wrote to us that non-physicians keeping x-ray viewers in their rooms and prescribing for operation is an offence," Rab Executive Magistrate Palash Kumar Basu, who led the drive, told The Daily Star.

Three private hospitals at Mohammadpur -- Makkah-Madina General Hospital, Nurjahan Orthopaedic Hospital and Crescent Hospital -- were raided.

Five others were sentenced to jail on different terms. Makkah-Madina and Nurjahan hospitals were sealed on charges of various irregularities, including mistreatment, he said.

"We have even found that an OT boy, Jahangir Hossain, was performing orthopaedic surgery at Nurjahan hospital," the magistrate said. Jahangir, who only studied till fifth grade, was sentenced to two years' imprisonment.

The magistrate further said that they also found severely unhygienic atmosphere in OT rooms of the two shut hospitals, with blood stains everywhere and foul stench emanating from the rooms.

Basu said he found many victims, including children, during the raid. "The surgery spot of a victim had become infected."

Nurun Nabi, owner of Makkah-Madina General Hospital, was sentenced to one-year's jail, and staffers Anwar Hossain and Abdur Rashid to six-months' imprisonment.

Basu said there were various allegations against private hospitals, including fake doctors providing treatment, carrying out complicated surgeries without trained physicians, loss of life due to malpractice, collection of large bills from patients and unhygienic environment.

It was alleged that patients who went to National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation were coerced by intermediaries and brokers to go to various private hospitals.

The hospitals were raided after receiving such allegations.

Babul Hossain, owner of Nurjahan Orthopaedic Hospital and a leader of the brokers, was sentenced to one-year's imprisonment.

The Rab official said the six have been sent to Dhaka Central Jail.