July 17, 2020 
A hospital owner in Bangladesh was arrested Wednesday on charges of fraud, after allegedly issuing thousands of fake Covid-19 test results to deceive patients out of an estimated $350,000, in a wide-ranging scam that has shaken confidence in the country’s medical establishment.
Authorities in Bangladesh say Mohammad Shahed, 43, who had evaded authorities for nine days, was caught trying to cross a river into neighboring India while wearing a burqa.
Shahed is accused of providing patients with fake negative test results for the novel coronavirus, said Col. Ashique Billah, a spokesman for the country’s Rapid Action Battalion, an elite security force.
Shahed is also accused of charging people for virus treatments and documents certifying they did not contract the coronavirus after agreeing with the government that he would provide those services free of charge.
Billah said that two medical facilities owned by Shahed conducted some 4,000 genuine coronavirus tests, but faked the results of another 6,500.
A court Thursday granted police the opportunity to keep Shahed in custody for 10 days for questioning. CNN is attempting to locate a lawyer who represents Shahed for comment.
Shahed is not the first person in Bangladesh arrested on charges of committing medical fraud during the pandemic. Last week, owners of a different private testing facility were arrested for providing fake Covid-19 test certificates without actually testing people, authorities said.
Experts are concerned that these scams could discourage people from getting tested in Bangladesh, which is already facing limited testing capacity.
Since March, the government has tested an average of between 13,000 to 17,000 people per day, a comparatively small number for a country with a population of more than 168 million people.
Those seeking tests have faced frustrating delays, with many forced to wait in long lines, sometimes overnight. The new scandal could affect public confidence in testing, and further dissuade people from getting tested altogether.
– CNN
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