The director of Gazipur, Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmad Medical College and Hospital, stated that journalists need permission from the ministry to enter the hospital or take pictures or videos. Md. Aminul Islam made this statement, emphasizing that journalists must obtain ministry approval even when contacted by Ansar members while taking footage outside the hospital.
According to sources, the district representative of Dainik Deshapotro, Ashiqur Rahman, and Bangla TV’s Gazipur correspondent, Shahidul Islam, visited the hospital last Tuesday for their professional duties. During this time, Ansar members responsible for the hospital’s security objected to the television logo. They pressured the journalists to keep the television channel logo inside their bags, citing the hospital director’s statement that no television channel logo should be visible inside the hospital. The Ansar members added that journalists could only enter as ordinary patients, not in their professional capacity.
When contacted outside the hospital, director Md. Aminul Islam reiterated over the phone that ministry permission is required for journalists to enter the hospital. He also stated that photographing the hospital requires ministry approval and that no pictures can be taken from outside.
When asked about taking footage from outside, he responded, “Why from outside? You cannot take footage from any direction.” In response to whether there is a law prohibiting footage, he replied in an agitated tone, “I don’t need to talk to you like that. Bring it to the side.”
Senior lawyer and human rights activist Dr. Rafiqul Islam commented, “Journalism is a noble profession. Article 39(2) (a and b) of the Bangladesh Constitution, along with various articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948, makes it clear that journalists can enter any place to perform their professional duties. The director’s obstruction of a journalist at Gazipur Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmad Medical College and Hospital is very sad and despicable. He cannot stop the journalist as an independent professional. If he has obstructed, he deserves initial punishment.”
He further noted that if officials continue to obstruct journalists in this manner, it will deter them from working for truth and justice, gradually leading the country into an abyss. The director’s actions need to be investigated.
In response, Minister of Liberation War and President of the Hospital Management Committee, AKM Mozammel Haque MP, stated that no permission is required for journalists to perform their duties in the hospital. He remarked that the director’s statement was incorrect and questioned how the director could control journalists taking pictures or videos from outside. He asserted that no one has the right to stop journalists, and they should be allowed to fulfill their responsibilities freely.
Patients at Gazipur Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmad Medical College and Hospital have reported various irregularities. The hospital is known locally as a ‘hotbed of corruption.’ Recently, news of irregularities and corruption at the hospital surfaced in various media outlets. Following these reports, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) raided the hospital. Since then, the hospital authorities have been strict with journalists.
The ACC confirmed that allegations of irregularities and corruption were substantiated during an operation conducted last April. Officers from the integrated district Gazipur office found evidence of various irregularities, including food supply tenders, outsourcing recruitment tenders, medicine supply, furniture purchases without approval, and the procurement of machinery at inflated prices before infrastructure construction.