3,256 clinics didn’t seek registration

At least 3,500 private medical facilities did not bother to apply for renewing their licence by the deadline that passed on Sunday.

A total of 12,221 hospitals, clinics, and diagnostic centres did apply and 4,521 of them received the licence.

At present, 3,256 are pending for renewal after completing the formalities, 2,674 are waiting for inspection by officials, and 1,736 other facilities have already been inspected, according to data from the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

"We are now scrutinising the applications," Farid Hossain Miah, director (hospitals and clinics) at the DGHS, told The Daily Star yesterday.

About the facilities that had not applied for licence, he said, some might have already been closed.

"We will get a clearer picture when we get information from the civil surgeon offices. The civil surgeon offices will inform us which hospitals have renewed and which ones have not…"

Bangladesh Private Clinic Diagnostic Owners Association has said they hoped the government would extend the deadline.

But a government committee said the establishments that didn't apply for licence were illegal and the facilities would  be sealed off.

On July 23, the ministry issued a circular giving private hospitals, clinics and diagnostic centres one month to renew their licence.

A top member of the government committee told The Daily Star, wishing not to be named, "We found that some hospitals and clinics did not feel the need to apply. It's  unacceptable. The next meeting of the committee will be in the first week of next month and their fate will be decided there."

DGHS officials said private facilities started renewing their licence after the committee warned them.

The issue came into the fore after the Regent Hospital scam was exposed.

It was found that two thirds of the country's over 15,000 private clinics and diagnostic centres had been running without any valid licence since 2018.

The renewal of licences has been slow since 2018, when the DGHS began "digitalising" the process, said officials.

Only seven people were assigned for this Herculean task and only three officials for looking after the licence of around 5,000 clinics and diagnostic centres in Dhaka.

DGHS sources said on September 4, 2018, a circular was issued hiking the license issuance fees of private hospitals and clinics from Tk 5,000 to Tk 50,000-2,50,000.

Clinics and diagnostic centres need environmental clearance, employee details, city corporation clearance, tax certificates and several other documents to get their licence renewed every year.

Sources said producing the documents is also a barrier for the private hospitals and clinics to keep the licence updated.

Maniruzzaman Bhuiyan, president of Bangladesh Private Clinic Diagnostic Owners Association, said, the 3,500 clinics and diagnostic centres that had not come under the registration process should be investigated.

According to DGHS data published in 2018, there are 17,244 private hospitals, clinics, diagnostic centres and blood banks in the country.