Doctor caught doing private practice during office hours, license cancelled

Health minister Sardar Md. Sakhawat Hossain has ordered a government doctor's license cancelled and his job terminated, after finding him doing private practice at a private clinic during government office hours.

On Thursday (August 6) afternoon, the minister carried out a surprise raid at Popular Diagnostic Centre on English Road in old Dhaka. There, he caught Dr. Moinul Hasan Chishty, a doctor at Narsingdi's Belabo Upazila Health Complex, seeing patients on the spot.

The health minister said seeing patients at a private clinic during office hours, while employed in government service, is completely against the rules. He said the doctor had been doing this for a long time, so he ordered the doctor's license cancelled and his job terminated.

He added that the doctor had earlier been sent a show-cause notice from his workplace, but he had ignored it.

The health minister also directed the mobile court magistrate to take the necessary legal action in this case.

During the raid, checks on Popular Diagnostic Centre's paperwork showed no resignation papers or no-objection certificate (NOC) on file for the doctor from his government job. The health minister strongly scolded the centre's manager over this.

He said any government doctor who wants to work elsewhere must have a resignation letter and an NOC. It is not lawful to let a doctor see patients simply on his own word. He said this kind of unethical practice had been allowed to continue for the sake of profit.

The centre's manager later admitted it was wrong not to collect the required papers, and promised this would not happen again.

Speaking to reporters after the raid, the health minister said the government spends a large amount of money to hire doctors at government hospitals to ensure healthcare for the public. But if anyone sees patients at a private clinic while on government duty, no leniency will be shown. Strict action will be taken against both the doctor and the clinic involved in such irregularities.