14% of private hospitals never filed for registration: icddr,b study

The International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b) has said that about 14% of all private hospitals in the country have never filed for registration and of those registered, a large number of hospitals' licences have expired.

This research data was presented by the Senior Director of Maternal and Child Health Division (MCHD) of icddr'b Dr Shams El Arifeen during an event at 12pm Tuesday (30 August) in the icddr,b auditorium, reads a press release.

However, the study was conducted in 2019-20, so the situation may have changed within this time, informed icddr,b.

The Health Services Division has been conducting a strict campaign to close down illegal and unregistered clinic diagnostic centers in the country. 

"At various times, the Health Services Division conducted operations to bring irregularities under control. To oversee this issue, with the help of USAID, we conducted a research survey in 29 upazilas of 10 districts. Some private hospitals along with the local civil surgeon helped in this research", said the icddr'b official.

He said, while conducting the research, 1,189 private hospitals were asked to cooperate for assessment, but 40 of them refused. Finally 1,117 private hospitals were assessed.

Shams El Arifeen said that of the 1,117 private hospitals surveyed, 956 hospitals (86%) had come under registration at some point.

And the remaining 161 private hospitals never registered, which is about 14%, said Shams.

He further said that out of 956 private hospitals that had once registered, 886 hospitals' (79%) licenses had expired, 66 hospitals (6%) had valid licenses and the remaining four hospitals did not provide any information on this.