Staff Reporter : The unelected and one-sided management committee of the Bangladesh Private Medical College Association (BPMCA) has been accused of embezzling crores of taka and misappropriating funds for the past 16 years. There have been allegations of nepotism, violation of rules and regulations and arbitrary treatment of unelected persons in this organization of owners involved in private medical education. It is alleged that those concerned have turned it into a pocket organization by ignoring the opinions of the general members of the organization.
According to the information received, BPMCA started its activities as a non-political organization in 2010 after registering with the Joint Stock Commission of the Ministry of Commerce. According to the constitution of the organization, elections are to be held every two years for the 21-member executive committee . But since its establishment in 2010, the unelected committee has been running the organization alone in turn. With special permission from the Ministry of Commerce, the committee has extended its term one after another. In the past, only people close to the Awami League government were involved in running this organization. The constitution of the organization does not provide for any office-bearer to serve more than three terms. But an individual has remained in the same position for more than three terms. Which is a serious violation of the organization’s rules.
Sources said that the constitution stipulates that each member should pay an annual subscription of 24,000 taka to the medical college. But the previous committee collected 3 lakh taka from the members. There is no trace of the 9.70 crore taka collected. When asked, the previous committee said that this money was spent on training the members in a 5-star hotel by bringing foreign trainers. After allegations of embezzlement of a huge amount of money from the organization, the concerned could not give a proper answer.
There are currently 37 government medical colleges in the country. The number of seats in these colleges is 5,380. There are 67 private medical colleges. In which there are 6,293 seats. The role of the private sector is prominent in medical education. In 1986, the first private medical education was started in the country under the name of Bangladesh Medical College. Later, although medical education was opened to the private sector, its control and monopoly were handed over to a handful of individuals.
Six individuals from the private medical sector have taken over these institutions and turned them into a means of obtaining personal benefits. It is alleged that they have increased the seats of their medical colleges by taking advantage of government influence and spreading corruption. The name of the medical college of the previous committee president Mubin Khan is International Medical College. Initially, its number of seats was 50. Later, to suit the government , he increased the number of seats to 130. Similarly, the number of seats in the East West Medical College of General Secretary Dr. Moazzem Hossain increased from 50 to 127, the number of seats in the Enam Medical College of the fascist government minister Enamul Haque increased from 50 to 155, the number of seats in the Popular Medical College of Mostafizur Rahman increased from 50 to 105 and the number of seats in the Anwar Khan Medical College increased from 50 to 147. However, despite having campuses, teaching rooms, state-of-the-art laboratories and all other facilities, the applications for increasing the number of seats in many medical colleges have not been taken into consideration. The previous committee purchased an office flat in the name of the organization, but it was not registered. There have been allegations of irregularities in the purchase of the flat, which was purchased for nearly a crore taka. After the change of government after August 5, a consultation meeting was organized at Hotel Intercontinental. 12 million taka was spent there. Which was against the rules. The committee brought people from abroad to form an accreditation council and organized unnecessary seminars. For which 1 crore taka was spent. The event management of this event was given to Mubin Khan’s organization. Who was the president of the executive committee. An unnecessary concert was organized in Gazipur under the supervision of Mubin Khan. Crores of taka were also spent there. It is known that several crores of taka were also spent from the association’s funds to keep Health Minister Zahed Malek satisfied during the Awami League regime.
Sources said that on the demand of the general members, the election of the executive committee was held for the first time in the history of BPMCA on July 16. Two panels contested this election . In the election , Dr. Sheikh Mohiuddin was elected president from Mohiuddin-Mukit Parishad and Dr. Moazzem Hossain was elected general secretary from Afroza-Moazzem Parishad. Dr. Abdus Sabur was elected organizing secretary from Mohiuddin-Mukit Parishad. The candidates of Afroza-Moazzem Parishad won the remaining 19 posts. But the group circle of the past days has risen again to cancel the results of this election.
In accordance with Section 27 of the BPMCA ‘s Articles of Association, a 3-member election board headed by Dr. Md. Mainul Ahsan was formed on March 25 for the election of the executive committee for the 2025-2027 term. However, the final list of validly nominated candidates published on June 16 was published with the sole signature of the president of the election board.
It is learnt that during the scrutiny of nomination papers by the Election Board on June 15, several nomination papers were rejected as per Section 5 of the previously announced election rules. Although two members of the Election Board wanted to stick to the rules they had made and announced, the Election Board President did not agree to it.
Meanwhile, rival candidates have called the entry of former Sylhet Mayor Ariful Haque into the polling station during the polling on election day an illegal interference in the election. Ariful Haque entered the polling station around 12 noon, ignoring the security personnel on duty. The sudden incident during the peaceful polling created anger among those concerned.
Meanwhile, the elections held on July 16 were peaceful and competitive, as reported in various media outlets across the country. The Mohiuddin-Mukit panel and the Afroza-Moazzem panel contested the elections, and 92 out of a total of 110 voters exercised their franchise.
After the announcement of the final results, an appeal was filed by the Afroza-Moazzem panel outside the rules and the Appeal Board accepted it outside the jurisdiction. Because the appeal application was accepted at around 8:30 pm after the deadline for accepting the appeal expired. This has created anger. After the voters cast their votes throughout the day in a free, fair and peaceful environment, the nominated agents of the two councils signed the draft results. From the Afroza-Moazzem panel, Dr. Shah Md. Selim signed. Who was elected as the executive member in this election.
Currently, there is an attempt to nullify the election results and take away the democratic rights of the voters. Those concerned hope that this appeal will be dismissed by following the proper legal process, respecting the opinions of the voters and preventing the conspiracy of the syndicate.