Bangladesh Children’s Hospital and Institute authorities have appointed 65 doctors on an ad hoc basis without examination. No advertisement was published in the newspapers for the appointment. The Health Ministry has decided to investigate the recent appointment.
There have been allegations that the newly appointed doctors are members of the Doctors Forum of Bangladesh (DAB), a BNP-backed doctors’ organization.
On June 29, the hospital’s director, Professor Md. Mahbubul Haque, prepared a list of 65 doctors for appointment on an ad hoc basis. It was approved by the hospital’s board of directors, Professor AKM Azizul Haque. He is the former president of DAB. And Mahbubul Haque is a member of DAB. Both were told that the political identity of the doctors was not considered in the appointment of the 65 people.
A video of a meeting of doctors at the Children’s Hospital was found last week. In it, MA Kamal, general secretary of the defunct DAB committee and a member of the hospital’s management board, said that all 65 doctors appointed were DAB doctors.
Everything that happened in terms of appointments was done with the approval of the board of directors.
Professor Mahbubul Alam, Director and Member Secretary of the Board of Directors of the Children’s Hospital
Notice on the notice board
No advertisement was published in the newspapers for this recruitment. Only on June 1 was a ‘recruitment notice’ put up on the hospital’s notice board. It invited applications from Bangladeshi citizens under the age of 35 for 42 posts of five types of officers (pediatric medicine, pediatric surgery, pediatric anesthesia, ENT, and maxillofacial) in the ninth grade of the national pay scale. It is said that doctors training and studying at the children’s hospital will get priority in the job, and their age will also be considered flexible.
It is not known whether doctors working or training in other hospitals in Dhaka city or other districts of the country were aware of this recruitment. However, no application was submitted by any doctor from any institution outside the Children’s Hospital. Hospital director Mahbubul Haque told us yesterday that two to four more than the 65 people. All the applicants are students in training or at the postgraduate level at the Children’s Hospital. No one from outside applied.
The director also said that no written or oral test was conducted before the recruitment. When asked about the recruitment of 65 people through the notification of 42 posts, he said that the decision to hire 65 people was made in a meeting of the board of directors.
The Jamaat-backed doctors’ organization NDF held a procession and human chain on the premises of the Children’s Hospital on July 1 in protest against this appointment. The organization’s president, Professor Nazrul Islam, said that there were systematic problems in this appointment and there was a lack of transparency. Job-seeking doctors from all over the country were not aware of this appointment; they did not apply. There was no examination either.
Professor Mahbubul Alam, director of the Children’s Hospital and member secretary of the board of directors, said that everything that happened in terms of appointments was done with the approval of the board of directors.
Professor AKM Azizul Haque, president of the board of directors, said that these doctors were hired on an ad hoc basis for six months. Therefore, there was no need to take the test. They were appointed for the urgent needs of the hospital.
There have been allegations of irregularities in the recruitment at the Children’s Hospital. First, the hospital director gave a reply in response to the show cause notice. Later, we formed an investigation committee. After receiving the committee’s report, it will be known whether the recruitment was correct or not.
Health Advisor Nurjahan Begum
Ministry of Health under investigation
The Ministry of Health wrote to the director of the Children’s Hospital on July 2 to inquire whether the proper process, including the call for applications, for the appointment of ad hoc positions was followed. In a letter to the ministry on July 7, the director said that the doctors were appointed as per the decision of the board of directors and following the hospital’s employment and recruitment rules.
Then, on July 10, the Ministry of Health formed an investigation committee regarding the recruitment of children at the Children’s Hospital. The three-member investigation committee will visit the Children’s Hospital today, Sunday, the hospital’s director said.
Nurjahan Begum, health advisor to the interim government, said yesterday, “There have been allegations of irregularities in appointments at the Children’s Hospital. First, the hospital director gave a reply in response to the show cause notice. Later, we formed an investigation committee. After receiving the committee’s report, we will know whether the appointment was correct or not.”
