Abul Kalam Azad (doctor)
Abul Kalam Azad is a Bangladeshi doctor and who was the Director General of the Directorate General of Health Services during the COVID-19 pandemic.[1] He was a former additional director general of the Directorate General of Health Services.[2]
Early life
[edit]Azad was born in 1960 in Nilphamari District, East Pakistan, Pakistan.[3] He completed his MBBS at the Dhaka Medical College.[3]
Career
[edit]Azad was additional director general of the Directorate General of Health Services from 2011 to 2016.[3] He founded Sandhani National Eye Donation Society.[3] He was the additional director general of administration at the Directorate General for Health Services.[3]
On 1 September 2016, Azad was appointed the Director General of the Directorate General of Health Services.[3] He replaced Professor Deen Mohd. Noorul Haq.[4] He resigned in July 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh after Regent Hospital was caught with fake COVID-19 tests.[5] Azad was criticized for the scam.[5][6] The directorate had blamed the Ministry of Health for pressuring it to provide a license to Regent Hospital.[7] He was replaced by Abul Bashar Mohammad Khurshid Alam.[8]
Azad was sued in the Regent Hospital scam case.[9] In October 2021, Justice K. M. Emrul Kayesh granted bail to Azad in a case filed over the fake tests by Regent Hospital.[10] The hospital had been scamming patients from the National Institutes of Preventive and Social Medicine.[11]
References
[edit]- ^ "Director General of DGHS in home isolation". The Daily Star. 12 May 2020. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
- ^ "Rural areas to get 6,000 new doctors". The Daily Star. 8 August 2014. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f "Govt appoints Prof Abul Kalam Azad director general for health services". bdnews24.com. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
- ^ "Abul Kalam Azad takes charge as new director general for health". bdnews24.com. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
- ^ a b "Health DG resigns amid criticism". The Business Standard. 21 July 2020. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
- ^ "Govt served legal notice to arrest ex-DG of health directorate". The Daily Star. 24 July 2020. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
- ^ "DGHS chief Azad quits amid scams". The Daily Star. 22 July 2020. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
- ^ "Prof Khurshid made new DG of DGHS". The Daily Star. 24 July 2020. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
- ^ "Regent Hospital scam: Charges against ex-DG of DGHS, 5 others accepted". The Daily Star. 22 February 2022. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
- ^ "Regent Hospital scam: Former DGHS chief Azad surrenders, gets bail till Nov 2". Dhaka Tribune. 7 October 2021. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
- ^ "Former DGHS chief Azad returns from court without surrendering in Regent Hospital scam case". Dhaka Tribune. 5 October 2021. Retrieved 10 January 2024.