The Padma General Hospital in Dhaka was fined on Monday when RAB unearthed various irregularities there, including an attempt by hospital officials to conceal the news of a girl's death from her own family.
The eight-year-old girl, Jannat Nilufa, was lying dead on an NICU bed at the hospital in Sonargaon Road, when the elite force members conducted a raid yesterday afternoon; Nilufa's family were not informed of the child's death at the time.
Following the raid, the mobile court of Executive Magistrate Helal Uddin fined six people including the hospital's Chairman Delwar Hossain Tk10 lakh for the irregularities and negligence.
The hospital had no proper legal documents, as it had not renewed its licence from the DGHS after an earlier change of ownership
Health directorate's Assistant Director Monjur Ahmed, who was with the mobile court during the raid by RAB 2, said they found the lifeless girl when they were inspecting the NICU on the first floor.
After examining her, they were confirmed that the girl had died half an hour ago.
Bringing allegations of sheer negligence, the girl's father Mujibur told the Dhaka Tribune that the doctors did not even inform what was the condition of his daughter or what had happened to her.
However, Padma General Hospital's chairman Delwar denied allegations of hiding the death.
"We may have some deficiencies in our equipments but we are never negligent. Normally we wait for some time before announcing deaths to see if there is any hope. Sometimes the pulse cannot be felt, sometimes it restarts, so we do not announce [a death] before confirmation," Delwar said.
Meanwhile, RAB also found that the hospital had no proper legal documents, as it had not renewed its licence from the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) after an earlier change of ownership.
RAB 2 Commanding Officer Lt Col Mohiuddin Ahmed said: "Besides lack of equipments, the hospital did not have the mandatory number of trained staff."
DGHS Assistant Director Mohammad Shahjahan told the Dhaka Tribune that the hospital was found to be collecting blood even though it had no blood bank permission.
He also said the Padma Genral Hospital was found to have 121 beds even though it had permission for only 21 beds.
As per hospital regulations, a medical facility with 120 beds must have at least 11 doctors and 22 nurses for each shift.
But Executive Magistrate Helal Uddin said they found that only five doctors and 14 nurses were present during every shift. The hospital also had no paediatric specialist doctor, while only one nurse was found to be certified by the nurses council.
