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Thursday | October 08, 2026 | Dhaka

Clinics Adjacent to the Hospital: A Dangerous Geometry of Public Health

 New Nation
 Published: 12:02 AM, 08 October 2026

While the proliferation of nearly fifty private medical facilities and diagnostic centres within just one kilometer of Khulna Medical College Hospsital (KMCH) are a matter of concern. We often witness a cluster of private medical facilities springing up alongside public hospitals in the capital and elsewhere across the country. However, the alarming fact is that the majority of these private medical centres in Khulna lack valid authorisation.

The reason behind the increase of private medical facilities and dianostic centres near government hospitals is no secret. Just as active rings of touts in Khulna’s hospital emergency and outpatient departments mislead patients or their relatives and divert them to unauthorised private clinics, the same phenomenon occurs frequently elsewhere.

Although government hospitals offer diagnostic tests at nominal rates, which is the primary reason patients seek care there, various pretexts are used to divert them to private facilities, where they are charged several times the cost. Furthermore, erroneous and fraudulent medical reports are endangering both the patients’ medical treatment and their lives.

The government has recently issued a directive stating that permission will not be granted to establish any new private medical facility within one-kilometer radius of a government hospital. We also consider it significant that the directive prohibits doctors at government hospitals from attending to patients at existing private medical facilities within that same radius. In fact, such a directive was needed much earlier.

Indeed, there have been numerous allegations in the past regarding patients being taken from government hospitals to nearby private clinics. Various syndicates operate within the hospitals themselves to lure away innocent patients. Allegations exist that, in many instances, doctors themselves are involved in such practices.

We have observed that the administration frequently conducts mobile court raids to shut down illegal clinics. Although these establishments may close temporarily during the raids, they revert to their illegal activities as soon as the operations conclude. We believe that such illegal clinics must be completely shut down during these raids.

It is also crucial to ensure monitoring so that these entities cannot resume operations. Merely suspending new registrations is insufficient for a permanent solution to this situation. It is essential to immediately shut down medical facilities and diagnostic centres operating without authorisation and to take strict legal action against tout networks and unscrupulous officials.

It is now imperative for the health department and law enforcement agencies to adopt a zero-tolerance policy to protect the healthcare sector from the clutches of commercialisation and fraud. This hazardous pattern affecting public health must not be allowed to expand any further.