A persistent crisis
The stealing of medicine from different wards of Chattogram Medical College Hospital (CMCH) has not stopped despite the authorities' initiatives to stop it from occurring.
At least six CMCH staffers have been arrested with stolen medicine in the past six months.
According to sources, a syndicate comprising a section of CMCH staffers and outsiders have been active in siphoning government medicine from the hospital. At times, police manage to arrest some of the members of the syndicate but the masterminds remain out of the reach.
Police have recently arrested three ward staffers of CMCH with medicine stolen from the operation theatre of the hospital's orthopaedics ward on July 11.
On June 21, police arrested an office assistant of CMCH with stolen medicine from the hospital premises. On February 7, two CMCH staffers were arrested with stolen medicine worth Tk 3.5 lakh.
CMCH sources said police started an investigation after the arrest of Sumon Barua (30) in front of the operation theatre of CMCH's orthopaedics department on July 8.
After primary interrogation, he mentioned some names of the theft ring's members.
Based on the information, three people were arrested along with a large quantity of stolen government medicine from in front of CMCH's main gate, said sources.
Contacted, CMCH Police Outpost in-charge Nurul Alam Ashek said, "A man was arrested in connection with the medicine theft last week and a case was filed. The three accused in the case have been arrested on July 11, with government medicines worth around Tk 10,000."
Asked how the three detainees were identified, he said, "Our investigation started immediately after filing of the case. Their names came up in the investigation."
They have a big gang in CMCH and they are trying to arrest all their members, he added.
According to CMCH sources, the gang is mostly active in the general surgery ward, orthopaedics ward, gynaecology and obstetrics ward, medicine ward and paediatrics ward.
Asked why the stealing of medicine has not stopped yet, Inspector Sadekur Rahman (investigation) of Panchlaish Police Station said there might be a lack of monitoring and supervision in the CMCH administration in this regard.
"In our investigations, we have found that CMCH staffers take medicine from the hospital's store to distribute to patients in different wards. The stealing occurs on the way from the store to the wards. As a result, the medicines never reach many patients," said the inspector.
"If CMCH's internal monitoring was strict, identifying the culprits would be far easier. Merely arresting some members of the ring based on information from sources will not be enough to stop the occurrence," he added.
Contacted, Dr Aung Shui Pru Marma, CMCH deputy director, said different steps have been taken to thwart stealing medicines in the hospital.
"We have tightened the security in every ward. Ansar members have been deployed at the entrances of the wards and the hospital. We have engaged our source to identify the staffers responsible for the theft," he said.
"We are also taking legal and administrative actions whenever we identify someone," added Dr Marma.
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