Fake woman doctor and diagnostic centre in Barishal's Babuganj fined Tk 150,000 in total

In Babuganj upazila of Barishal, a woman described as a fake doctor has been fined for treating patients without a certificate, and the owners of a diagnostic centre have been fined for carrying out tests without the necessary certificate and a pathologist — Tk 150,000 in total. The fines were imposed in two separate drives by the upazila administration based on information from the National Security Intelligence (NSI).

On Thursday (29 October), Upazila Nirbahi Officer and Executive Magistrate Asma Ul Husna conducted the drives at Madhabpasha Bazar in Babuganj upazila until 11:30 pm. The fines were imposed through a mobile court under Section 53 of the Consumer Rights Protection Act, 2009.

According to mobile court sources, NSI members disguised themselves as patients and received treatment at the chamber of a woman named Taslima Akter Anni at Madhabpasha Bazar.

The allegation is that the woman had long been treating mothers and children without any MBBS or BDS certificate. Expired medicines were also allegedly being sold at her own pharmacy. She was fined Tk 50,000 for these offences.

A drive was later conducted at Pallabi Digital Diagnostic Centre in the same market. The centre was allegedly carrying out various tests and issuing reports without the necessary certificate and a pathologist, and its laboratory environment was not up to standard. Its manager, Md Sabbir Sardar, was fined Tk 100,000 for this.

Sources said NSI members had secretly observed the centre's activities for a long time before conducting the drive in coordination with the upazila administration. NSI members, the Babuganj upazila nirbahi officer and members of Bimanbandar police station were present during the drive.

Earlier, on 18 October at around 8 pm, a drive was conducted at a pharmacy in the College Gate area of Babuganj upazila. Led by Upazila Nirbahi Officer and Executive Magistrate Asma Ul Husna, that drive fined a man named Alimul Islam Tk 50,000 on allegations of claiming to diagnose diseases using a laptop and special devices, using a doctor's identity on prescriptions and deceiving people in the name of treatment with fake certificates. A fake doctor has therefore been found in the same upazila again within just 12 days.