Who Is Taking the Poor Patient’s Medicine? Inside the Alleged ‘Magic Token’ Scheme at a Dhaka Hospital
An RTV investigation traces how free government drugs may be slipping from hospital counters to private shelves
Every morning, long queues form at the free-medicine counter of Sir Salimullah Medical College Mitford Hospital. An RTV investigation now asks an uncomfortable question: are those medicines actually reaching the patients they are meant for? Here is what the investigation alleges.
What is the ‘magic token’?
It is a special token used to collect medicines. RTV reports that without it, medicines are often unavailable. The token is allegedly prepared in front of doctors’ rooms, hidden behind prescriptions.
Who is accused?
- Token suppliers: MLSS staff Rezaul, Rubel and Yasin, working outside a room in the outpatient orthopaedic department, allegedly used a doctor’s seal to hand tokens to an alleged smuggling network.
- At the counter: some nurses, brothers (male nurses), ayas and ward boys were seen collecting medicines while patients waited, the report says.
- Outsiders: members of broker syndicates and some Ansar members face similar allegations.
- On the wards: nurse Asma Akter, Saddam Hossain and his wife Rokeya Akter Setu are among those named over alleged misappropriation of medicines for admitted patients.
Where might the medicines end up?
RTV claims a large quantity of government medicines was found in Asma Akter’s drawer. She also allegedly runs a pharmacy in the Sonar Bangla Housing area of Keraniganj, where hospital medicines may be stockpiled. When RTV’s team went undercover to buy medicines, Asma’s husband delivered them, the report claims. Asma Akter declined to speak about the matter.
What have officials said?
The hospital director has promised action over medicines recovered from nurses, saying he will act if he receives complaints or sees it himself. The Director General of the Directorate General of Drug Administration declined to comment.
Why does it matter?
For low-income patients, a single free medicine can be life-saving. If the supply chain has several layers of control, from prescription to counter, how do medicines still end up in the wrong hands? And if every step is properly monitored, how do such allegations arise?
The question RTV leaves behind is simple: are medicines meant for poor patients reaching them, or an invisible network inside the hospital?
