Half of the Private Hospital's Licenses Have Expired

The license of the Nur Mahal clinic in Jessore was annulled on November 2 last year due to the death of a patient for the wrong treatment. But that clinic is now being renamed as Maternity Clinic. 

This information is from the Department of Health itself. Related branches and officials gave the information to Deutsche Welle. The much talked about Regent Hospital license has not been renewed since 2013. As per the rules, registration of all private hospitals is now compulsory online. If you can't fulfill any of the conditions, you can't get registration online. And no chance of renewal as well.

How to get a license

The license is actually given to a 10-bed hospital or clinic for 1 year. The license has to be renewed every year. The same rule is in Dhaka and outside Dhaka. The hospital must have at least three MBBS doctors, six nurses and two cleaners registred. There should be 80 square feet of space for each bed. Operation theater must be air-conditioned. And other requirements are Trade License, TIN Number, BIN Number, Environment, and Narcotics License. Narcotics licenses are mandatory for operation theaters. However, outdoor, emergency, and operation theater are not mandatory. The conditions actually depend on the capacity of a hospital.

Based on the application, a three-member team led by a deputy director of the health department inspect the site and issue the license. It costs Tk 50,000 in Dhaka and Tk 40,000 in Upazilas to get a license respectively.

The private hospital actually is of 10-bed. If the number of beds increases, the manpower increases proportionally.  

How many hospital-clinics

The Department of Health has so far issued licenses to 4,084 hospitals and clinics and diagnostic centers online. However, the number of licensed hospitals and clinics is 5,055. There are 294 in Dhaka district including the capital. Those who have taken the license manually before will also have to take the license from online again. Half of these hospitals have not renewed their licenses. It takes five thousand tk to renew the license for one year. The online system was launched in November 2018. However, in reality, there are about 7,000 private hospitals and clinics in the country. A part of which does not have a license. Some of them started the hospital by just applying for licenses.

What happens if you do not renew?

Yunus Ali, deputy director of the health department (private hospital), said there was a provision to annul the license if the terms of the license were violated or not renewed. However, the Ministry of Health may warn them orally and in written. The hospital may get a notice for temporary closure within 15 days. 

Deputy Director Yunus Ali said, "We will not issue licenses unless the conditions are met." And if they violate the terms of the license, we warn them and recommend various disciplinary measures, including revocation of the license. "

However, he could not say how many hospitals have been taken action against in the last two years. The procedure of the health department is to take action if anyone complains, they do not monitor themselves, he said. And when someone applied and started the hospital, they asked to close it. Therefore, RAB has taken action against Regent Hospital, not the Department of Health.

Meanwhile, a source in the department said that some of the hospitals hire doctors, nurses and equipment at the time of licensing. What is no longer remain there and is run in any way.

The Bangladesh Private Clinic and Diagnostic Center Association has more than 10,000 members. The president of the organization- Moniruzzaman said, "There are many hospital clinics without licenses." We have repeatedly asked the Department of Health to take action against them. Regent Hospital is not our member. We have even placed an advertisement in the newspaper a few days ago to take action against such hospitals, "he added. 

Source: Deutsche Welle