A curious decision

After successive drives in different hospitals, diagnostics and dispensaries by the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection (DNCRP), during which they had fined some top hospitals for charging higher than the government declared rate for dengue tests, the officials were not seen in the field in last three days.

During the drive, dispensaries selling medicines for mosquito control at much higher price were also fined.

Sources at the DNCRP and commerce ministry said after being guided by the top authorities, they have suspended their raid for an indefinite period.

Over last two weeks, the consumer rights protection directorate inspected over three dozen hospitals and diagnostic centres in Dhaka. Most top hospitals also faced fines from Tk 40,000 to Tk 1 lakh; and the total amount of fine is around Tk 10 lakh, said an official of the organisation.

A senior DNCRP official said they started the drive after learning about the anomalies in media reports. “Suddenly, we got a verbal order from high-ups to suspend the drive, and from Sunday we haven’t conducted any raids,” said the official involved with the drive.

DNCRP officials said the suspension order was relayed to their offices across the country over phone.

On July 28, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) fixed dengue test fees after the High Court expressed concern over charging extra for the tests.

DGHS fixed Tk 500 for dengue test, while that for Complete Blood Count test which included RBC, WBC, Platelet and Hematocrit was fixed at Tk 400 and IgM+IgG or IgM+IgE tests at Tk 500.

But in some cases, medical centres were charging around few thousand takas for each test. On Saturday, DNCRP inspected two major private hospitals in the capital and fined them Tk 50,000 each for charging extra.

A director of the organisation said the decision to suspend the drive came from the commerce ministry soon after that.

DNCRP is a government organisation under the ministry that conducts drives at different establishments to protect rights of consumers.

Contacted, Md Mofizul Islam, senior secretary to the commerce ministry, said they have not given any directive to the directorate to suspend their drives.

“But we have concerns that this inspection may hamper services at the hospitals, as it is time-consuming… so we have warned them not to do anything that may cause hindrance,” he added.

Usually when an inspection takes place, hospital authorities also become busy attending to the officials, leaving their duties. The commerce ministry asked DNCRP to keep that in mind, the senior secretary told The Daily Star yesterday.

Meanwhile, officials at the ministry said a meeting was held on Tuesday presided over by the senior secretary on “Dengue and our responsibility”, where he directed the DNCRP officials not to fine any hospitals and diagnostic centres.

Contacted yesterday, Shameem Al Mamun, acting director general of DNCRP, said, “We have changed our strategic position and are trying to monitor the market from outside.”