Raid at Sirajul Islam Medical College: Contamination of samples, expired reagents found

When a patient got a blood test done at Dr Sirajul Islam Medical College Hospital in Shiddeshwari, that patient probably did not know that their blood sample was mixed with that of two others -- just to skimp on petri-dishes.

Meaning if the patient's blood was healthy, and the other two blood samples were not, the diagnostic test would conclude the patient as sick.

This was discovered by a mobile court raid at the hospital yesterday, led by Rab executive magistrate Sarwoer Alam, along with health ministry Joint Secretary Umme Salma Tanzia, and Rapid Action Batallion-3. The raid lasted for nearly 5 hours.

"They put three blood samples in a single petri-dish for every test. This meant that one or more of the patients received incorrect outcomes. How would one understand who has what?" said Alam. "Not even tiny diagnostic centres in places like Jatrabari have unethical practices like this."

Dr Sirajul Islam Medical College Hospital is a 16-storey, 500-bed hospital opposite to Mouchak market that also has a dedicated Covid-19 isolation unit.

They also found expired reagents in the operation theatre, intensive care unit (ICU), and even at the isolation unit ICU. "We found surgical accessories in the OT that expired years ago."

The team also stated that the hospital's isolation unit was not maintaining complete isolation, thereby risking infecting healthier patients.

The hospital was fined TK 30 lakh. "Furthermore, we have instructed them to improve the practices of the isolation unit, or shut it down if they cannot function," he said. 

The hospital's license was renewed last year, informed the team. When asked how the license was renewed last year when the hospital has been engaging in malpractice, Alam replied, "We found the violations today after a five-hour raid done by an entire team. The authorities cannot always comb for such anomalies when they send an inspector to visit the hospital prior to getting a license renewed."

But for a hospital which has been accused of not maintaining the isolation of their isolation unit, the patients are being charged heftily.

The wife of Robiul Islam, a retired BRTC mechanic admitted in the hospital's Covid-19 unit, spoke to the The Daily Star and said, "My husband was admitted to the normal ward on Sunday. The bed charge was TK 15,500, which I paid. On Monday afternoon he tested positive for Covid-19 and was shifted to the isolation unit. He has not been given oxygen or anything, but the hospital said that I need to give them Tk 40,000 for a single day! How can I afford his treatment then?"

Earlier on August 5, a government circular from the health ministry asked the home ministry to keep law enforcement agencies from raiding government and private hospitals without permission from the director general of the Directorate General of Health Services. This circular came after executive magistrate Alam raided Regent Hospital. Yesterday, the High Court questioned why this directive of the Health Ministry should not be declared illegal.

"Magistrates are independent. They do not need permission from anyone," said Tanzia.

Asked about private hospitals which have yet to get their licenses renewed, Tanzia said that a committee is looking into the matter to decide whether or not they will be given more time.