Shishu Hospital: Probe committee asks to cancel appointment of 65 physicians

The investigation committee has recommended cancelling the appointments of 65 physicians at the Bangladesh Shishu Hospital and Institute as the appointments to the post of medical officers were made without following proper procedures.

The committee said no merit-based assessment was conducted during the recruitment.

Moreover, there was no emergency situation at the hospital that would have justified such urgent recruitment of physicians.

In the last week of June, 65 physicians were appointed on an ad-hoc basis for six months at the Shishu Hospital.

The hospital authorities did not publish any advertisement in newspapers or media before the recruitment. However, a notice was posted on the hospital’s notice board.

No physicians from outside the hospital applied for the job. Neither written nor oral tests were conducted before the appointments.

On 2 July, the health ministry sent a letter to the director of Shishu Hospital, seeking clarification on whether proper procedures, including calls for applications, were followed in the ad-hoc appointments.

In response, the director wrote to the ministry on 7 July, stating that the appointments were made based on a decision by the hospital’s board of directors and in accordance with the hospital’s employment and recruitment rules.

Following this, on 10 July, the ministry formed an investigation committee. The three-member committee was headed by Khandaker Mohammad Ali, joint secretary (administration wing) of the Health Services Division.

Shabbir Iqbal, joint secretary (discipline wing), served as the member secretary, while Mohammad Nasir Uddin, deputy director (administration) of the Directorate General of Health Services, was also a member.

When asked about implementing the recommendations of the investigation committee, health adviser Nurjahan Begum told Prothom Alo, “We will take legal action. For now, I cannot say anything more.”

The investigation committee visited the hospital and took statements from the hospital’s director, professor Md Mahbubul Haque, 14 recruited physicians, four physicians who were denied the job, and two members of the governing board. They also reviewed the relevant documents, laws, and regulations.

The investigation committee stated that the appointment of 65 residential medical officers at the Shishu Hospital was not carried out according to proper procedures. There was no competitive or merit-based evaluation during the recruitment. Furthermore, there was no urgent situation that warranted the ad-hoc hiring of doctors.

The investigation committee stated that the recruitment process was completed hastily, raising questions about its transparency. The decision to recruit was made on 28 May, and the process was concluded by 30 June.

Further serious irregularities were found. A notice was posted on the board stating that 42 medical officers would be appointed, but 65 were actually recruited. The committee expressed the opinion that the appointment of 23 individuals involved significant irregularities.

The investigation committee suspects that these appointments had been predetermined. As evidence, the committee noted that no registry was maintained for the received applications. There was no order or serial followed to track who applied after whom. Applicants were not given any acknowledgement receipts. Although the authorities signed the application forms, the dates of signing were not indicated.

At the beginning of its recommendations, the investigation committee stated that the appointment of the 65 medical officers must be cancelled. After cancellation, a recruitment committee should be formed following an acceptable procedure, and a recruitment notice must be published in a national daily newspaper.

The committee also said that the Bangladesh Children’s Hospital and Institute Act, 2021, should be enacted immediately. Until this regulation is established, prior approval from the Ministry of Health must be obtained for decisions on recruitment and other important and sensitive matters of the institution. Furthermore, the activities of the children’s hospital must be closely monitored.

Corruption and irregularities in children’s hospitals and many other hospitals across the country are not new. However, such widespread appointments of a large number of doctors in this manner are rare.

Iftikharuzzaman, executive director of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB), told Prothom Alo that the recruitment process was carried out through collusion. Everyone involved must be held accountable and exemplary punishment must be enforced. Such appointments cannot be accepted under any elected or caretaker government.