The country, including the capital city, lacks any effective system to monitor the treatment regime of the patients in hospitals let alone private mental hospital and rehabilitation centres.
Anisul Karim Shipon, a Senior Assistant Superintendent of Police, was beaten to death by employees of the Mental Aid Hospital in Adabor in the capital recently. This is not the first such incident.
A heroin addict, Jalal, was admitted on December 29 for treatment -and he was discovered dead on January 6, exactly a week after his admission last year. The Department of Narcotics Control said the director of the rehabilitation centre where Jalal was killed was arrested and the licence of the hospital revoked.
But the matter did not end there, although this one centre was shut down, there are many others doing the same. In fact, Jalal's death highlights a whole list of things broken about the system of drug rehabilitation.
After the killing of the police officer, Shipon, at the Mental Aid Hospital in Dhaka, police have taken the matter seriously. Meanwhile, such incidents are happening regularly in the name of treatment of mental patients in scores of mental hospital and rehabilitation centres across the country.
Describing the Mental Aid Hospital, Harunor Rashid, Deputy Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, Tejgaon zone, said the entire facility appeared to be a prison without any open space. "Every inch of the building has been used. Even the veranda has been turned into rooms without ventilation."
The reception desk and the cash counter are on the ground floor of the hospital. On the first floor, the dining room has a pool table. Each of the four bedrooms has six to seven single beds. The second floor has a study, a six-bed ward and two cabins.
The family took Anisul, 35, an Assistant Commissioner of Traffic Department at Barishal Metropolitan Police, with mental problem for treatment.
DC Harun said CCTV footage of the Mind Aid Hospital showed some people beating up and dragging Anisul into a room. Three to four people kneeled on his back and the others tied his hands. They hit him in the back of his neck and head with their elbows, while others punched him.
Faruk Molla, Inspector at Adabor Police Station, said the hospital was launched with a capacity to treat 24 patients one and a half years ago. It had 16 patients before Monday's incident and all of them left after the killing of Anisul.
Civil Surgeon Moinul said Mind Aid was denied a hospital licence in February, due to lack of documents, manpower and other facilities. Police shut down the hospital on Tuesday.
A family member of the deceased police official said they shifted the patient because they thought the environment of the government hospital was not suitable for recovery.
"We wanted a comfortable room with an AC. We were informed that we would get 24/7 doctor's service along with the consultation of a psychiatrist.
The government centre in Tejgaon is the only places in which this treatment is available. Recovering addicts-all of whom are outpatients, instead of being inmates of a rehabilitation centre-come to the clinic every day to take their dose of methadone.
Meanwhile, there are several such mental and rehabilitation centres in the country but the authority has no strong monitoring system.
