HC seeks info on state of Covid-19 testing in country

The High Court yesterday wanted to know how many Covid-19 and non-Covid-19 hospitals are operating in the country.

During hearing of a writ petition, it asked authorities concerned of the government to inform by September 2 how many private hospitals are licensed to conduct Covid-19 tests, and whether citizens have the scope to raise allegations in case they face any irregularities.

The bench of Justice Tariq ul Hakim and Justice SM Kuddus Zaman set September 2 for further hearing on the petition.

Rights organisation Children Charity Bangladesh Foundation (CCBF) submitted the writ petition to the HC as a public interest litigation on July 26. The petition sought necessary orders on the authorities to act on reported irregularities against some hospitals, including Regent Hospital.

It prayed to the court to order authorities to pay Tk 25,000 as interim relief to each patient victimised by Regent Hospital.

In the petition, the rights body prayed to the HC to ask the health and home secretaries, director general of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), and managing director of Regent Hospital to make a list of people who got fake reports from the hospital.