Controversy in Sylhet Osmani Medical : Allegations of irregularities in a crore-taka tender

Sylhet Osmani Medical College and Hospital have been embroiled in various controversies recently. The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) recently conducted a raid on the hospital on allegations of patient harassment, mismanagement, and corruption and found the truth. There is no end to the controversy in the public mind about this medical hospital due to extreme irregularities and mismanagement. Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital, the largest reliable healthcare provider for the treatment of low-income people in Sylhet division, has been accused of irregularities and corruption in the purchase of X-ray films and reagents worth crores of taka for the 2025-26 fiscal year. Another participating institution has alleged that a company is being tricked into giving a supply order to a company despite not fulfilling the conditions of the tender. On September 28, the hospital authorities invited tenders for the supply of MSR (chemicals/reagents). One of the conditions of the tender was that the authorization letter of the manufacturing company is mandatory, and in the case of auto-biochemistry analyzers and other devices, the film/reagent materials produced and supplied by the machine supplier company must be supplied due to the closed system.

The complainants say that efforts are underway to select companies that are unable to meet these conditions to supply low-quality film/reagents. The six companies participating in the tender are MS Medicon Surgical, Shahida Traders, Zakia Enterprises, BMF Enterprises, MS Rokeya International and Medi Graphic Trading Limited.

GME Group GM Anisuzzaman Shaheen claimed that Medi Graphic Trading Limited is the only authorized distributor of Fuji Film Corporation in Bangladesh. The Bangladesh Drug Administration has also approved only them to import Fuji film. As a result, according to the rules, no other company is eligible for this tender.

According to the tender rules, in any tender, the contracting organization has to submit two proposals, the first phase is the technical offer and the second phase is the financial offer. Only if a contracting organization is able to fulfill all the conditions of the technical offer, that is, the first phase, its financial offer is reviewed in the second phase.

The Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College and Hospital authorities have taken the process of giving the work order to the lowest bidder by looking at the financial offer without verifying the technical offer or determining the eligible/uneligible, which is a clear violation of the conditions of participation in the tender. Medi Graphic Trading Limited has submitted an application to the hospital director twice in this regard.
However, since the hospital director is on leave, his statement could not be obtained.

Osmani Hospital Deputy Director Dr. Mahbubul Alam said in this regard that six organizations have participated in the tender. Medi Graphics Trading Limited is in fourth place. A preliminary decision has been taken considering the financial savings of the government. We have also received the letter from the complaining organization. The final decision will be taken by the procurement committee.

He also said that if some concessions are given to the film production companies, the government will save several lakhs of taka. However, we have not given any work orders yet. As there are complaints about the tender process, the file will be sent to the higher authorities, and the tender process will be completed with their advice and approval.

He denied the allegations of the tender and said, we see the government’s profit, there is no opportunity for irregularities or corruption here.