LGED engineer death: Health ministry orders cancellation of Dr Swapnil's registration, action against Dhanmondi hospital

The health ministry has ordered the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council (BMDC) and the Directorate General of Health Services to cancel the registration of Dr Mamun Al Mahtab Swapnil, a doctor at LabAid Hospital in the capital's Dhanmondi, and to take action against the hospital over the death of a patient.

The patient, Afsar Ahmed, was an engineer of the Local Government Engineering Department who died while undergoing an endoscopy.

The cancellation order was issued in two separate notices signed by Sharaban Tahura, deputy secretary of the Health Services Division of the Ministry of Health, on 16 January.

The notice states that the investigation committee formed by the DGHS submitted its report, which prompted the registration cancellation order due to "negligence of duty". 

In another notice, the DGHS was directed to take appropriate action against LabAid Hospital in the capital's Dhanmondi.

Afsar Ahmed, an LGED engineer of Chhatak upazila, died on 9 November at the private LabAid Hospital in Dhanmondi. 

He was undergoing treatment under Swapnil's supervision and had come for an endoscopy that day, the complaint states.

After going to the hospital on the day of the endoscopy, he was informed that the procedure would be performed at 4pm. 

Although the necessary preparations for this started in the morning, the test was performed at 8pm. 

Dr Swapnil came and ordered anesthesia without observing the patient's physical condition or conducting any pre-evaluation, the complaint said. 

"At one point during the test, my brother was taken to the ICU. When asked why, I was told that my brother had suffered a cardiac arrest. That is why he was being put on life support. That night, at around 1:30am, we were informed from the hospital that my brother had died," the complaint said.

Dr Swapnil had earlier come in the headlines for negligence allegations.

In February of last year, family members of 31-year-old Rahib Reza alleged negligence against the hospital and Dr Swapnil. 

Rahib's family alleged that his medical history was not "thoroughly reviewed before administering anaesthesia". They also said that the hospital has not been transparent about who administered the anaesthesia.

"My brother visited Dr Mamun Al Mahtab Swapnil for gastritis," said Nivin Reza, Rahib's sister. 

"He was told he needed eight tests and an endoscopy, and that Dr Swapnil would perform the procedure himself."

Nivin further stated that Rahib fasted for the procedure as instructed, but the doctor arrived late and the procedure itself was delayed. 

When Rahib did not come out of the endoscopy room after a significant amount of time, his family was informed that he required immediate transfer to the ICU due to complications.

He died soon after.

On 24 March last year, a person named Khairul Bashar of Habiganj had written a complaint to the then health minister Dr Samanta Lal Sen demanding an investigation into the death of his elder brother due to mismanagement, inefficiency, negligence and carelessness of Dr Swapnil and LabAid Hospital.