Around 12,000 private hospitals and testing laboratories applied for renewing their licences until the deadline on Sunday last.
On August 08, the state-run Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) warned of suspending operations of such facilities if they do not seek renewal of their licences by Auguest 23 August.
The move is part of the health authority's crackdown on illegal healthcare facilities. The unauthorised operations of defamed Regent Hospitals and JKG Healthcare made headlines, prompting the government to police the largely unregulated private healthcare system.
According to a list prepared by hospital department of DGHS, 11,883 applications were submitted until Sunday.
Of them, 3,491 have applied for licences, 3,024 are pending, 2,570 waiting for inspection while inspection of 1,520 facilities have been done.
Of the applications, 3,410 are from Dhaka, 2,421 from Chattogram, 1,653 from Rajshahi, 940 from Rangpur, 1,565 from Khulna, 732 from Barisal, 492 from Sylhet and 677 from Mymensingh divisions.
The documents of 1,135 hospitals and health centres in Dhaka, 817 in Chattogram, 391 in Rajshahi, 372 in Rangpur, 383 in Khulna, 197 in Barisal, 114 in Sylhet and 89 in Mymensingh have been scrutinised.
Still, the documents of Dhaka's 604 health units, Chattogram's 723, Rajshahi's 416, Rangpur's 267, Khulna's 446, Barisal's 115, Sylhet's 97 and Mymensingh's 357 are pending for review.
The pending means the documents of hospitals, clinics and diagnostic centres, have been scrutinised by the DG Health, but the documents of some applicants are either missing of short of requirement.
The inspection has been done in 410 in Dhaka, 225 in Chattogram, 254 in Rajshahi, 68 in Rangpur, 167 in Khulna, 168 in Barisal, 144 in Sylhet and 84 in Mymensingh.
Earlier, DG Health had said there were 15,000 private hospitals, clinics and diagnostic centres in the country, two thirds of which have no valid licences.
The licence and renewal fees for private hospitals and clinics was raised to a minimum of Tk 50,000 and to the maximum of Tk 0.25 million from Tk 5,000 in September 2018.
At that time, only 5,000 hospitals, clinics and diagnostic centres secured licences.
DGHS officials said private hospitals and clinics need environmental certificates, detailed information of employees, no objection certificates from city authorities and other documents for licence renewal every year.
The DGHS publishes notice in newspapers alongside serving notices on hospitals and clinics about the need for having valid licences, but few volunteer for renewing licences.
Healthcare experts said the DG Health should declare such healthcare providers illegal.
But allegations are rife that those illegal private hospitals and clinics operate right under the regulator's nose as it fails to play its due role.
There are limitations on its end. Only three staff members are responsible for inspecting 5,000 hospitals and clinics in Dhaka alone, making proper policing extremely difficult.
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