'Legal Action against Those Who Fail to Renew Hospital Licenses'

The deadline set by the government for the registration and renewal of licenses of private hospitals, clinics and diagnostic centers in Bangladesh for those who are not registered, or whose licenses have not been renewed, expires on Sunday 23rd August.

The Department of Health says legal action will be taken against those who do not complete the registration and license renewal process by 12 midnight on Sunday.

Dr Farid Hossain Mia, director of the health and hospitals department at the health department, told the BBC that action would be taken against those institutions that failed to apply for license renewal or registration.

The coronavirus epidemic in Bangladesh has led to allegations of corruption and irregularities in the health sector. At that time, it was seen that even the hospital prescribed for the treatment of coronavirus did not have a license. The government then gave the country's private hospitals and diagnostic centers a month to register and renew their licenses.

Dr Farid Hossain Mia said, "Departmental action will be taken against those who do not have a license at all, ie their activities will be stopped. Besides, those who have a license but have not renewed it may be given some time if they need it... "

He said it would be known how many hospitals did not apply for license renewal or registration by midnight on Sunday. But it will take a few days to prepare the final list.

"It will then be decided what kind of action will be taken against any organization."

From 2016, the government started issuing licenses online through the process of manual licensing.

According to the latest data of the Department of Health in Bangladesh in 2017, there are 16,244 private hospitals, clinics, and diagnostic centers in the country. Of these, about five thousand are diagnostic centers.

Many organizations were operating without registration and license renewal

In early July, the government shut down the Regent Hospital in Bangladesh for testing fake coronavirus, treating Kovid-19, despite being a government-designated hospital, signing an agreement with the government to provide free services, collecting bills from patients and operating without a license.

After that, the law enforcement forces raided several hospitals to stop the irregularities in private hospitals and clinics, some of which were sealed, some of which were shut down and some of which were fined.

At that time, a large number of private hospitals and clinics and health examination diagnostic centers across the country were not registered. Apart from this, the number of hospitals and clinics that have not renewed their licenses is also not less.

Health service providers are then given a one-month deadline to renew and register their licenses.

What the owners of private hospitals and diagnostic centers are saying

So far, more than 10,000 companies have applied for license renewal and registration, according to the Association of Private Clinics and Diagnostic Owners.

Moniruzzaman Bhuiyan, president of the association, told the BBC that the conditions set by the government for registration and renewal of licenses were difficult for many organizations to meet in a short period of time.

That is why in a meeting with the Department of Health on Sunday, they appealed for some relaxation of government regulations.

"For example, the ratio of doctors to nurses in a hospital cannot be ascertained. The government rule is that there should be three doctors and six nurses for 10 beds. But the number of diploma nurses in the country is insufficient, so many hospitals and clinics want it," he said. You can't do that. "

"Again, for the environment, all hospitals and clinics have to have ETP or purification system, which is a costly affair. That too many hospitals cannot manage. That is why we have applied for the relaxation of certain conditions."

Mr. For those who fail to apply within the stipulated time, Bhuiyan said, they have offered some time extension.

However, public health experts believe that poor government monitoring and manpower shortages are also a major factor behind such institutional irregularities in the health sector.

Professor Nasrin Sultana, director of the Institute of Health Economics at Dhaka University, said, "Everyone knows that the government has less manpower, but with limited manpower, the government has to think about it. Otherwise, the manpower will have to be increased quickly."

"However, monitoring needs to be stepped up, as, without regular inspections and supervision, irregularities in hospitals will not go away."

He says the health sector needs to be reformed through long-term planning, not rushing into an epidemic.

Source: BBC