Who will bell the cat ?
City Correspondent
A gang sells counterfeit tickets to patients at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), but authorities could not head off the racket despite repeated anti-fraud measures. Four committees formed by the authorities opened investigations into the allegations, but failed to identify most of the dishonest officials or workers at the DMCH, blamed for aiding the racketeers. "Instead of hospital officials, their relatives sit at the counters," a source said, adding the racketeers have their tickets forged by printing houses in Sheikh Saheb Bazar, Chalk Bazar, Lalbagh, Hajari Bazar and Rahamatganj in Old Dhaka. Inpatients alleged on-duty officials do not man the counters but remain busy collecting certificates from doctors for patients' admission to the hospital in exchange for money from them. "High officials have roles in the sale of forged tickets," a DMCH doctor told Star City, asking not to be named. As part of anti-forgery measures, the DMCH issued tickets to the health workers of the inpatient and emergency departments with the signature of a deputy director and serial numbers on them and introduced watermark on August 1 last year. A doctor informed DMCH Director Nazmul Huda about forgery on August 30 last year, after he found tickets without watermark. The director seized 400 forged tickets and suspended three hospital officials, HM Nuruzzaman, Abdul Mannan and Mofazzal Hossain Khan, in an instant action. The DMCH also formed a four-member committee headed by Professor AF Siddique of the medicine department, which found 200 forged tickets in January. Huda said the authorities are working hard to stop ticket forgery and give better service to patients. Doctors said the suspended officials came back to work, as the committee could not prove the allegations against them. Another DMCH doctor the authorities formed the four committees for eyewash in the wake of allegations against some officials. "These committees came under pressure so that the authorities cannot take action against the guilty," said a doctor on condition of anonymity. The DMCH says it earns Tk 4 lakh in revenue a year through selling tickets to inpatients and outpatients. An entry ticket costs a patient Tk 5 and an admission ticket Tk 10.
| 
