United Hospital officials face travel ban over fatal fire

The top officials of the United Hospital in Dhaka cannot leave Bangladesh as they are charged with negligent death in a case over a fatal fire at its isolation unit for COVID-19 patients, police said.     

A relative of one of the five victims sued the hospital’s chairman, managing director, CEO, director, duty doctors and nurses, and administrative officials who were in charge of security during the incident.

Md Rafiqul Islam, senior assistant deputy commissioner of police’s Gulshan Zone, said the investigators submitted a report on the fire incident to the court.

The police would begin the investigation into the case over the deaths now, he said on Wednesday. The law enforcers need to be sure who were responsible for the deaths of the patients before making an arrest, according to the officer.

Sudip Kumar Chakraborty, deputy commissioner of the police’s Gulshan Zone, said no-one will be spared, no matter how influential they are, if they commit crimes or neglect duty.   

Asked what will the police do if the accused flee Bangladesh before the investigators find evidence, Chakraborty said, “They can’t. Everyone is under a ban. No-one can leave.”       

Police officials said they were mindful of a recent incident of suspects fleeing Bangladesh by an air ambulance amid the pandemic while slapping the travel ban on the United Hospital officials.

A fire burnt down the tent-like coronavirus unit of the United Hospital in Dhaka’s Gulshan on Wednesday night killing five COVID-19 patients.A fire burnt down the tent-like coronavirus unit of the United Hospital in Dhaka’s Gulshan on Wednesday night killing five COVID-19 patients.Ron Haque Sikder, a director of National Bank Limited, and his brother Dipu Haque Sikder, left the country after being accused of abducting two top executives of Exim Bank Limited and threatening them with death over a loan.

Aminul Islam, an inspector of Gulshan Police Station, told bdnews24.com the United Hospital officials facing the travel ban include five to six of its top officials.

Hasan Mahmood Raja is the chairman of the hospital while Faridur Rahman Khan is its managing director.

Plaintiff Ronald Micky Gomez, son-in-law of 74-year-old fire victim Vernon Anthony Paul, said the members of the family were in distress after the loss.

“It happened right in front of my eyes. The bed of my father-in-law was movable, but no one helped me when the fire started. Very unfortunate and frustrating,” he told bdnews24.com.

A ward boy said the hospital had no fire extinguisher when Gomez asked him to bring one, according to the plaintiff.

“What he brought was a floor mop and that fuelled the fire much,” he said.

Besides Anthony, the victims of the fatal fire were Md Mahbub, 50, Md Monir Hossain, 75, Khodaja Begum, 70, and Riaz Ul Alam, 45.

Three of them were COVID-19 patients, while the two others had symptoms.

The fire on the night of May 27 burnt down the tent-like coronavirus unit of the hospital. A spark from an air conditioner was the possible cause of the fire, the authorities said, citing witnesses.

The investigators gathered evidence of what the people at the scene did during the incident from security camera footage and statements of 38 witnesses, Deputy Commissioner Chakraborty said.

A genitor tried hard to douse the fire, while the doctors and nurses fled the scene, he said, reports bvdnews24.com.