The High Court on Sunday severely criticised the Directorate General of Health Services for alleged corruption in the health sector.
The court also asked the director general of the DGHS to stop the corruption, noting that medicines intended for free distribution to patients in government hospitals were being sold outside.
The court remarked that civil surgeons were not performing their duties adequately.
The bench of Justice KM Kamrul Kader and Justice Khizir Hayat made these remarks after the DGHS鈥檚 lawyer Tirtha Salil Pal sought additional time to recruit 20 doctors for vacant posts in various jails across the country.
The court granted the health directorate one more month to fill these vacancies.
Lawyer Shafiqul Islam, representing the department of prisons, informed the High Court that there were only 121 doctors in the country鈥檚 68 jails.
On June 23, 2019, the High Court asked the health services and the department of prisons to inform the court about the medical facilities available to prisoners.
This directive followed a public interest litigation writ petition filed by Supreme Court lawyer JR Khan Robin, seeking an order to recruit doctors for all jails.
The court stated that the general public suffered due to the shortage of doctors in the jails, as no bureaucrats were caught and sent to jail for alleged corruption.
It also noted that the police did not hesitate to shoot people and that during the students鈥� quota reform movement, the bodies of police officers were seen hanging.
The court observed that teachers were politically divided then and were instigating their students, much like politicians did during the students鈥� movement.
鈥楾o whom will they [students] learn?鈥� the court questioned.
