Unauthorised healthcare facilities: All will be shut down

All unauthorised private hospitals, clinics, and diagnostic centres will be shut down, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said yesterday.

Besides, private healthcare organisations failing to provide quality services will be warned, he said while addressing a programme held in the capital marking the National Health and Welfare Day 2022.

He made the statement at a time when the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) closed 1,440 illegal healthcare facilities as of yesterday since the ongoing countrywide crackdown began on May 25.

"These initiatives have been taken to bring transparency in the health sector and ensure quality services," Maleque said.

The minister mentioned there were around 11,000 private hospitals, clinics, and diagnostic centres across the country. "A question has been raised regarding the quality of service delivered by many of them."

Civil surgeons from 64 districts, divisional health directors, upazila health and family planning officers, and officials from the DGHS and the health ministry joined the day-long event.

Presided over by Prof Abul Bashar Mohammad Khurshid Alam, director general of the DGHS, Prof Ahmedul Kabir, additional director general (administration), and Prof Meerjady Sabrina Flora, additional director general (planning and development), among others, spoke at the event.

Meanwhile, Transparency International Bangladesh yesterday said the ongoing drive against the unauthorised healthcare facilities was a good thing, but it was not enough.

The graft watchdog added that to get sustainable benefits, the government should enact a law to control and monitor the private healthcare sector and implement it fast.

"The submission of a large number of applications is evidence of lack of monitoring. Under this circumstance, the question is how much impactful the drive will be," TIB Executive Director Dr Iftekharuzzaman said in a press release issued yesterday.

Since the DGHS announced on May 24 that the illegal healthcare organisations would be shut down, it has been receiving a barrage of new applications for getting licences.

As of yesterday, the DGHS got 592 new applications online, its official told The Daily Star.

Iftekharuzzaman urged the authorities concerned to issue and renew licences of the organisations by maintaining proper procedures.

The TIB boss also proposed forming a high-power regulatory body to monitor the quality of the private healthcare providers and ensure good governance there.

It also urged the government to ensure that the health directorate officials are able to complete their jobs unbiased and free from political influence.

Stressing the need for conducting such drives on a regular basis, the TIB demanded that all those involved in operating the illegal healthcare facilities be brought to book. Otherwise, the initiative would not be fruitful, added the release.