Mitford Hospital cashier accused of embezzling Tk 17.5m from medical test fees

The cashier allegedly moved the funds little by little over the past few months

The authorities of Sir Salimullah Medical College Mitford Hospital have accused its cashier Md Abdus Sattar Mia of embezzling about Tk 17.5 million from medical test fees.

Brig Gen Quazi Md Rashid-Un-Nabi, the government hospital’s director, said on Saturday Sattar was asked to explain discrepancies found in the accounts of user fees last week.

“He has been staying in the office since last Tuesday, but hasn’t been able to reconcile the accounts.”

Not all the fees in the past few months were deposited in the bank, leading to the anomaly, according to Rashid.

“How much more time shall we give him [Sattar]? We must take legal action against him now,” he said.

Rashid said others will also face administrative and legal action if they are found involved with the alleged embezzlement.

Sattar was not available for comment as he was trying to reconcile the accounts under the hospital authority’s supervision.

Mizanur Rahman, chief of Kotwali Police Station, said the hospital authorities were yet to file a complaint over the incident. “For such an incident, the complaint should be filed with the Anti-Corruption Commission.”

Rashid said Sattar had been embezzling the fund little by little every day over the past few months.

The hospital conducts nearly 80 medical tests. An official said the hospital collects Tk 350,000 on average a day from the patients as user fees for the tests.

The money is deposited to Agrani Bank after the end of the day’s work and transferred to the government coffers through treasury bonds once every month.

The official, who spoke to http://bdnews24.com on the condition of anonymity, alleged lapses in monitoring the routine work by Deputy Director Mohammad Ali Habib led to the irregularities.

Ali denied the allegation of negligence, saying the user fees are transferred to the government coffers every 10-15 days, not a month.

“There’s no lack of monitoring. He [Sattar] has been asked to reconcile the accounts where discrepancies have been found.”