In October 2020, the hospital was sealed off on charges of wrong treatment, medical malpractice and an unhygienic atmosphere. Two years later, they are back at it again.
A six-year-old who had gangrene on her thigh died early today following a "wrong" operation at Makkah-Madina General Hospital in the capital's Mohammadpur.
The deceased Atika Akter Ayesha (6), was a first-grader.
Following the death, three doctors and a nurse were arrested after Ayesha's father Md Azim filed a case at Mohammadpur Police Station against eight, including the owner of the hospital, who is currently on the run.
"We arrested four, including three doctors and a nurse," said Farukul Islam, sub-inspector at Mohammadpur Police Station.
The arrestees are -- Dr Dewan Mohammad Anisur Rahman, Dr Mustakin Billah Maruf, Dr AKM Nizamul Islam and nurse Mukta Bhowmick.
The deceased's father Azim told the The Daily Star that Ayesha had a fracture on her right thigh on April 3. The family took her to a private hospital but could not continue the treatment due to the expenses being high.
The family took Ayesha to the National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation (NITOR) on Tuesday (May 17, 2022) where an on-duty doctor suggested that she should be admitted to the hospital.
However, a broker outside persuaded them to go to Makkah-Madina General Hospital by promising them treatment at an affordable cost, the father said.
"Going to the Makkah-Madina Hospital in the afternoon, they said the patient needed an emergency operation. They took Tk 32,000 for the operation and Tk 12,000 for medicines," said Azim.
"Around 5:00 am, I saw my daughter getting pale and frozen. She was declared dead after a while," he said.
Prof Amzad Hossain, former head of Dhaka Medical College's Orthopaedic department, said, "Usually multiple tests are run on a gangrene patient to understand the condition before operating. If the hospital authorities hurried the operation, chances are they didn't run the tests on her."
On the hospital's visiting cards, it was mentioned that the hospital has ICU, NICU, PICU and HDU facilities. However, while visiting the seven-bed five-storied hospital today, this correspondent did not see such facilities.
None of the staffers wanted to speak to this correspondent.
Two years ago, Rapid Action Battalion conducted drives at three private hospitals in Mohammadpur on the grounds of lacking valid documents for operations, sufficient staff, doctors, nurses and surgical instruments. Makkah-Madina General Hospital was one of them.
The hospital's owner Nurun Nabi was sentenced to a year in prison, while staffers Anwar Hossain and Abdur Rashid were sentenced to six-month prison time each.
Earlier in 2018, the High Court directed the government to immediately shut down 14 private hospitals and clinics in Mohammadpur, including Makkah-Madina General Hospital due to not having licences.
Despite repeated attempts, this correspondent could not get in touch with Nurun Nabi.