& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

A hospital beset with anomalies

MOHAMMAD Ali JlNNAt, Cox's Bazar
There seemed to be nothing amiss in the day-to-day affairs of the District Sadar Hospital in Cox's Bazar until the death of an accountant in 2012, which unravelled a series of financial anomalies in the preceding years.
The committee formed to take up the incomplete task of the accountant-cum-chief assistant Abdul Samad, who died while discharging his duties on April 6, 2012, first discovered the financial embezzlement on April 10.
The members of the committee discovered Tk 63.73 lakh in cash carefully stacked in two envelopes in a drawer of Samad's office room.
Sensing massive financial anomalies, the authorities formed another committee on May 8, 2012 to review the previous activities of Samad, who had worked in the same post for 18 years till his death.
According to the financial report of the fiscal year 2011 -12,
the total expenses of the hospital amounted toTk 96.32 lakh.
But the district accounts office, which provides funding to all government offices in the district, showed that more than Tk 2.5 crore was withdrawn in the name of the hospital during the period.
The discrepancy goes with the bill of the nursing institute supervised by the hospital as well.
In 2011-12, the institute's expenses were shown atTk 18.52 lakh, but the district accounts office in its report put the amount at Tk 26.13 lakh, according to the report of the committee headed by Dr Ayub Ali, junior consultant of the hospital.
The Daily Star had obtained a copy of the report at the time.
The report unveiled the misappropriation of over Tk 1.5 crore from the hospital, strongly indicating serious graft in the preceding years.
In the meantime, the committee discovered a bank
account, no 090333018387, in the name of one "Dr ABM Mostafa, superintendent of Cox's Bazar General Hospital and Nursing Institute" with Sonali Bank, Cox's Bazar Branch. But nobody had worked by this name in the hospital in the previous year.
Interestingly, the account had been operated since 1994, the same year Abdul Samad joined the hospital.
A doctor of the hospital said: "Crores of taka have been transacted through this account over the years, which now has been suspended upon instruction by the authorities."
When the scam was unmasked in 2012, Dr Mahbubul Alam was the superintendent of the hospital.
When contacted, he said: "I inquired about it in the district accounts office, and learnt of Samad's corruption by faking my signature and seal.”
He said he had taken the initiative to investigate the corruption. But he was forced to resign after the initiative.
After Mahbub, Dr Ajoy Ghosh became the superintendent of the hospital.
While preparing a salary sheet in July 2012, Ajoy also found huge dissimilarities between the salaries many employees received and the actual salaries they were entitled to.
During his stint, the review committee unearthed a number of financial anomalies in every sector of the hospital.
Following the report of the committee. Dr Ajoy Ghosh sent a letter to the Directorate General of Health Services office in Dhaka enclosing the report.
On receipt of the report in August 2012, the DG Health office in Dhaka formally asked the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to probe the anomalies, and initiated two departmental committees to probe the matter.
Following that move, Md Saidur Rahman Bhuiyan, director (finance) of the DG Health, visited the hospital on August 18-20 in 2013.
He said he did not get due cooperation from the Cox's Bazar district accounts office and Sonali Bank
He then said he would seek help from Bangladesh Bank and the Comptroller and Auditor General.
Md Khalilur Rahman Shikdar, in-charge of the ACC probe committee, also voiced the same complaints.
The district accounts officer, Md Nurul Huda, however, claimed he had provided all necessary documents to the probe committees.
"I issued cheques to the hospital superintendent upon receiving bills, and I had nothing to do with the corruption allegations," he added.
According to the report of the review committee, Abdul Samad was due to go on retirement on January 14, 2011 when he reached the age of 57, but he continued in his job until his death on April 6,2012.
When asked why he did not take measures in this regard. Dr Kajal Kanti Barua, who was the income-expenditure officer and superintendent of the hospital from March 2010 to February 2011, declined to comment.
"As the health directorate and the ACC are probing the anomalies, facts will be revealed. So, I cannot talk," said Barua, who later became civil surgeon of Cox's Bazar and retired on December 31,2013.
In the meantime, Dr Ajoy had been transferred to the Directorate General of Health Services office in Dhaka on December 4, 2013 as an officer on special duty (OSD).
Sources in the hospital said it was impossible for Samad to embezzle this huge amount alone.
They said influential quarters, who forced Dr Mahbub to resign, were also responsible for the transfer of Dr Ajoy.
They demanded that the culprits behind the scene be found.
Dr Ratan Chowdhury, present superintendent of the hospital, said the investigation was going on.
"I am readytoextendmyhelp,ifasked,"headded.
Additional Reporting by Morshed Ali Khan and Porimol Palma