The government has transferred the 23 employees of the health directorate who are allegedly members of a syndicate that made fortunes through corruption.
The health ministry has also formed eight committees to investigate the doctors found absent from work during Anti-Corruption Commission drives at nine hospitals in eight districts.
The ministry issued separate orders on the moves on Thursday. ACC spokesman Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya said the ministry had also notified the commission about the actions.
The 23 employees of the Directorate General of Health Services, or DGHS, have been transferred to different hospitals in Rangamati, Khagrhachharhi, Sunamganj, Barishal, Sirajganj, Rangpur, Bhola, Manikganj, Faridpur, Jamalpur, Netrokona and Naogaon.
The ACC in a letter a week ago recommended immediate transfer and departmental action against them saying they made a “strong racket of corruption” during their long stay at the DGHS.
The ACC has bolstered its crackdown on corruption after the formation of the new government headed by Sheikh Hasina following her reelection win for the third consecutive term.
The ruling Awami League said putting an end to the menace is on the top of its election agenda.
As part of the crackdown, the ACC conducted the drives on the hospitals and found 40 per cent of the doctors absent from work on Jan 21, according to bdnews24.
Its Director General Munir Chowdhury on that day said the health sector will be under the commission’s watch.
On the following day, the authorities put 25 plots and houses of Abjal Hossain, a DGHS clerk, and his wife Rubina Khanom, who had worked as a stenographer at the directorate two decades ago, under attachment.
The couple allegedly bought the plots and houses, including 15 in Dhaka, with money made through illegal sources.