Life-Saving Equipment Worth 1 Billion Taka Left Idle While 5 Million Taka Embezzled by Declaring Working Machines ‘Broken’

❐ BD Digest Desk

Nearly 4.7 million taka was embezzled at the capital’s Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital in the name of repairing equipment that was deemed to be faulty. Evidence has been found against the hospital’s former director, current acting director and a storekeeper for their involvement in the fraud.

Yet, more than three hundred life-saving devices worth nearly 1 billion taka have been lying idle in the same hospital for years.

Numerous lower and middle class people across the country, including the capital, rely on this hospital for medical services. But as 320 of its most important equipment has been out of order for a long time, service activities are being severely disrupted. In such a situation, incidents of embezzlement of money by showing that the functioning equipment is broken have come to light.

The involvement in this incident has been found against the former director of the hospital, Dr. Md. Shafiur Rahman, the current acting director, Dr. Nanda Dulal Saha, and storekeeper Md. Rafiqul Islam.

Health and Family Welfare Minister Sardar Md. Sakhawat Hossain Bakul has assured to take action.

According to the information, in the fiscal year 2024-25, the allocation for equipment repair was 40 lakh taka, against which the cost was shown as 31 lakh 97 thousand 500 taka. Then in the fiscal year 2025-26, the cost was shown as 15 lakh 21 thousand taka against the allocation of 95 lakh taka—this money was raised through seven quotations under the pretext of repairing patient monitors, ECG machines, OT tables and diathermy machines.

A total of 47 lakh 18 thousand 500 taka was raised in the name of repairs in the two fiscal years. Each bill was signed by the then director Dr. Md. Shafiur Rahman, but it is known that there was no consent from the biomedical engineers.

Mohammad Touhidud Zaman, the hospital’s chief biomedical engineer, expressed surprise upon learning about the matter.

He said, “These devices are not broken, how will they be repaired? If they are broken, our biomedical team should be the first to know. We don’t know anything, yet on paper, the repairs are completed and the bill is raised! The whole thing has been divided up based on fake quotations.”

He further said, “I came to know about the matter recently. An audit objection has also been filed against the then director Shafiur Rahman regarding this. He came to the hospital every few days for settlement. This money went to the storekeeper Rafiq and the director syndicate.”

A company named ‘M/S S.R Trade International’ has been receiving orders for various repairs and supplies to the hospital, whose address is shown in the tender as House No. 314-315 (Flat 4/B) in West Sheorapara, Mirpur. But no such company was found at that address.

According to residents and locals of the building, the building is entirely residential—no offices or commercial establishments exist there.

Investigation revealed that this company was actually just a paper company opened in the name of storekeeper Rafiqul Islam’s wife. When asked about the fraud of opening such a fictitious company in the name of his wife, who is in government service, Rafiq replied, ‘The wife can do business independently.’

When asked how the bill was passed without the signatures of biomedical engineers and without receiving the goods, he left the room under the pretext of prayer.

Regarding the embezzlement of money by making fake bills showing that a good machine was damaged, his explanation was, “The work was done by taking money from cash. The bills were made on the instructions of the director to reconcile that money.”

The investigation revealed even more disturbing information—the storekeeper, Rafiq, himself, used to repackage surgical procedure gloves used in surgeries and deliver them to the hospital store. He had instructed the nurses not to cut up the used gloves to avoid being caught in the fraud.

It is worth noting that the hospital needs at least 10,000 pairs of surgical gloves per year, each pair of which costs at least 150 taka—meaning that about 1.5 million taka is spent annually on gloves alone.

Several nurses, who did not wish to be named, said angrily that reusing contaminated gloves in the operation theatre was nothing but a joke on the lives of patients. They alleged that such gloves were supplied, but after objections from doctors, the supply of better quality gloves started last year.

Despite being a third-class employee, storekeeper Rafiq has his own car and driver. Rafiq, who joined the service in 1992, was allotted government staff quarters (B-14, G-10) in Agargaon, but for many years he did not stay there himself but rented it to others and earned more than 81 lakh taka.

Rafiq lives in Sirajganj. According to hospital officials, he was involved in various irregularities for a long time by instigating the names of various influential people. However, many people used to get immoral benefits from him, so no action was ever taken against him.

On the one hand, millions of taka are being embezzled by pretending to repair functioning equipment, while on the other hand, more than three hundred essential life-saving equipment has been lying unused for years.

Earlier, in 2022, an investigation committee was formed into the theft of an oxygen pipeline worth about Tk 100 million from a hospital, but in the end, no report was published, and as a result, none of those involved were punished.

When asked about this, storekeeper Rafiq said, “The ward masters know about this theft, I don’t know anything.”

The list of damaged equipment includes various essential and life-saving equipment such as ventilators, MRIs, CT scans, X-rays, endoscopy, colonoscopy, patient monitors, ultrasounds, and oxygen generators, with a total value of at least 100 crore taka.

The hospital’s only MRI machine, purchased for 180 million taka in 2016, broke down within just two years and has never been repaired, leaving hundreds of patients deprived every month.

One of the two CT scans has been broken for five years, and there is no initiative to make this machine worth Tk 40 million operational. In addition, 40 ventilators worth about Tk 3 million are lying idle, with a combined cost of about Tk 120 million.

There are also two portable X-ray machines with complete setups worth six crore taka, seven endoscopy and colonoscopy machines worth one crore taka (a total of about seven crore taka), more than 30 patient monitors worth one and a half crore taka, 14 ultrasounds worth seven crore taka, two echo machines worth eight million taka, an X-ray mammography worth one crore taka, and two oxygen and two air generators worth four crore taka.

The hospital has 10 laparoscopic machines worth 8 million taka, which is a total of 80 million taka. In total, the hospital has equipment worth about 100 million taka lying idle.

Meanwhile, Dr. Sehab Uddin, who was recently promoted from the post of director to OSD, introduced automation in January this year to bring transparency in the revenue generation of various sectors of the hospital, including diagnosis fees, medicine sales, and bed rentals.

As a result, the hospital has earned two crore taka more than the same period in the previous fiscal year, which raises a new question: where did this additional revenue go?

According to the data, before the introduction of automation, the hospital’s revenue in the first six months of the 2024-25 fiscal year was Tk 52,41,775. In the first six months of the 2025-26 fiscal year (up to June 26), the revenue increased to Tk 69,985,150—that is, an additional revenue of Tk 19,743,375 in a span of six months.

According to multiple officials, all of this money would have previously gone into the pockets of Nanda Dulal and Rafiq.

The investigation also revealed that despite the change in the directorship of the hospital after the fall of the Awami League government, Deputy Director Nanda Dulal Saha is still in his post. Both he and storekeeper Rafiq are directly involved in all the purchases of the institution.

When asked about this, Acting Director Dr. Nanda Dulal Saha first suggested applying under the Right to Information Act. Later, when asked directly about the embezzlement of money, his brief reply was, ‘Everything was done according to the rules.’

Regarding the allegations, former director Dr. Shafiur Rahman said, “There will be no talk about this. There are higher authorities there to look into it. There are many other departments of the government to look into, they are all looking into it. There is no discrepancy anywhere in any of the documents during my tenure.”

He further added, “The rule of every organization is that if a machine breaks down, the department requisitions it. Biomedical engineers check and select and buy equipment through quotations. Only when the machine is fixed and the users say it is correct, the bill comes to me through Store Accounts. There is no room for second-guessing here. Due to factionalism between Touhid and the biomedical engineers, one side blames the other and goes after the director. This is completely false.”

Director (Administration) of the Directorate General of Health Services, Professor Dr. Jalal Uddin Muhammad Rumi, said that the matter has been taken into consideration.

In his statement, ‘There is no scope for a government official or employee to open an institution in the name of his wife and then work as a contractor in the same institution. Therefore, the matter will be investigated by the hospital’s internal committee. If that doesn’t work, the department will do it. If the truth is found, action will definitely be taken.’

Health and Family Welfare Minister Sardar Md. Sakhawat Hossain finally said, ‘The matter is not my time, but it will be investigated. If irregularities are proven, necessary legal action will be taken.’