A Dhaka court has placed Shahabuddin Medical College Hospital's (SMCH) Managing Director Faisal Al Islam, Assistant Director Dr Abul Hasnat and Inventory Officer Shariz Kabir Shadik on five-day remand each in a case filed over using unauthorised Covid-19 test kits and forging test reports of coronavirus diagnosis.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Ashek Iman passed the order on Tuesday after Mashiur Rahman, sub-inspector of Gulshan Police Station and also the investigation officer of the case, produced them before the court with a seven-day remand plea.
The lawyer of the accused moved the bail petition for the three and also wanted to apply for the cancellation of the remand while the state lawyer opposed their bail prayer. After hearing both the parties, the court granted five-day remand for each of them.
Earlier in the day, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) handed over Faisal Al Islam to Gulshan Police Station.
Earlier on 20 July, RAB arrested Faisal from a local residential hotel in Gulshan, for using unauthorised Covid-19 test kits and forging Covid-19 test reports.
On 20 July, RAB-1 filed a case against Faisal, son of the hospital’s chairman Mohammad Shahabuddin, as well as Assistant Director Dr Abul Hasnat and Inventory Officer Shariz Kabir Shadik.
On 19 July, RAB shut down SMCH in Dhaka’s Gulshan over a series of irregularities after a raid amid allegations that it had been conducting unauthorized Covid-19 tests.
The RAB team, led by Executive Magistrate Sarwoer Alam, arrested Dr Abul Hasnat and Shariz Kabir Shadik during the raid. They also seized unauthorized drugs from the hospital's pharmacy and fined them Tk 2 lakh.
Earlier, RAB officials said the SMCH had been treating Covid-19 patients to draw massive amounts of bills, and they had also been charging excessive money from patients. Besides, the hospital was performing antibody tests without the health authorities' approval. RAB further said the hospital's licence to operate medical treatment expired in June 2019.
However, the SMCH authorities refuted the allegations brought by the RAB through a media brief on Monday (20 July).
The Hospital authorities also denied responsibility for the use of unapproved coronavirus rapid testing kits developed by Gonoshasthaya Kendra.
On 20 July, Gonoshasthaya Kendra issued a statement saying that their law department would take appropriate legal steps against SMCH and claimed they had no relation with such tests. They claimed the news of using their kits in Covid-19 tests at SMCH was 'totally false'.
nh/teb
