But health officials have decided to recommend action against only two-- Nazma Clinic and Ayesha Clinic--, sources said.

The decision was taken at a meeting of Rajshahi Clinic Inspection Committee on Thursday after a housewife died from wrong treatment at Nazma Cilinc. A child with faulty operation at the same clinic is now fighting for life at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH).

The meeting decided to recommend to the Director General (DG), Directorate of Heath in Dhaka, to "permanently seal" the two clinics.

The meeting, held at Rajshahi Divisional Health Director's office, examined reports of a recent survey conducted by the civil surgeon's office here.

The survey revealed that the two clinics were operating in "non-sterile environments and without any specialist surgeon and required instruments".

Chaired by Divisional Health Director Dr Abdur Rashid Chowdhury, the meeting was also attended by Deputy Director Dr Reaz Uddin and Rajshahi Civil Surgeon Dr AK Fazlul Haque.

Talking to The Daily Star later, Dr Reaz Uddin said the decision to seal the two clinics was taken as there were specific complaints against those.

Replying a question, he said a civil surgeon is authorised to conduct thorough survey of clinics annually and submit reports to the DG's office for necessary action.

Sources at Rajshahi civil surgeon's office however told this correspondent that survey reports are sent to DG's office every year, but no action has been taken against any unregistered clinics so far.

Authorities of the two clinics however claimed that the action against them was taken "intentionally".

Many of the top health officials are "randomly practising at unregistered clinics", they alleged.

Dr Sharmin Sultana, who operated upon the woman and the child at Nazma Clinic claimed that some of the health officials here are also doing operations at different unregistered clinics every day.

When contacted, Dr Abdul Mannan, president of Rajshahi Clinic and Diagnostic Owners' Association said unregistered clinics sprouted in the city due to negligence of the authorities.

"The authorities give little attention to regularly check treatment facilities at both registered and unregistered clinics and some of them reportedly have underhand deals with clinic authorities", Mannan alleged.