Md. Ali Ahsan Raju
It has been alleged that various private labs in the Mymensingh city, including Mymensingh Medical College Hospital (MMCH), are using approved and outdated testing kits and reagents. The matter came to light after 9 people were arrested in a RAB operation in the capital Dhaka. Unethical allegations of using these expired and unapproved testing kits and reagents have been found in the city’s well-known expensive labs, including the private labs set up around Mymensingh Medical. Local government intelligence officials also have the news.
According to local sources, Coronary Care Unit-CCU Lab, including inter-department, outpatient and one-stop services of Mymensingh Medical College Hospital, is using Biolab International’s fake reagents and adulterated medical testing kits. These reagents and kits are being used in various pathological tests including jaundice, diabetes, coronavirus and pneumonia, AIDS and cancer.
Biolab Internal is one of the 3 organizations that where expired reagents and testing kits were recovered and seized during the RAB operation in the capital Dhaka on April 16. Hitech Health Care and X Technology and Services, partners of Biolab International, were also named in the RAB operation. During the operation, Shamim Mollah, the owner of Biolab International and Shahidul Alam, the manager were arrested. After the matter came to light, information about the use of Biolab International’s reagents and testing kits in different labs of Mymensingh Medical College Hospital came out. Hospital authorities acknowledged the use of Biolab Internal’s reagents and testing kits, but claimed they were not expired.
There are allegations that these reagents and testing kits have been purchased locally even though they were supposed to be taken from CMSD. After the operation in the capital Dhaka, the RAB said that the import of these reagents and testing kits was not approved. In addition, the companies were collecting expired and out-of-date testing kits and reagents from domestic and foreign importers and suppliers at nominal prices and selling them in the market by tampering with special printing presses. Many people have raised questions about the use of these reagents and testing kits in Mymensingh Medical College Hospital even after the matter was made known. There are also questions about how accurate the diagnosis is using these reagents and testing kits. There is also a question as to why these reagents and testing kits are being used in Mymensingh Medical after the RAB operation in the capital Dhaka.
Attention is drawn to the Deputy Director of Mymensingh Medical College Hospital Waizuddin Faraji and he said a four-member inquiry committee headed by the deputy director of the hospital had been formed on April 19 to look into the matter. The committee has been asked to report within 10 working days. Several local sources also claimed that these reagents and testing kits are being used in various labs around Mymensingh Medical College and Hospital.
