Kolkata: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), probing financial irregularities in the R. G. Kar Medical College & Hospital in Kolkata, has traced Bangladesh's links in the "smuggling" of biomedical wastes from the hospital.

Sources aware of the development said that the CBI sleuths have tracked two Bangladesh-based individuals frequenting Kolkata and developing close contacts with the former and controversial principal of R. G. Kar Sandip Ghosh, who is currently in judicial custody in connection with the financial irregularities case.

However, the CBI officials are tight-lipped about the names of the businessmen who were procuring medical equipment and selling them to different hospitals in Bangladesh. The sources added that besides Ghosh, the businessmen also had close contacts with Prasun Chattopadhyay, who was operating as his personal assistant though officially he is on the payroll of the Calcutta National Medical College & Hospital in Kolkata as a data entry operator.

As per findings by the Central agencies, the smuggling of biomedical wastes from R. G. Kar was a major part of the financial scam. As per rules, the biomedical waste of any hospital was supposed to be disposed of following a particular procedure to eliminate the chances of its reuse. However, in the case of R. G. Kar, a major part of the biological waste like saline bottles, injection syringes and needles, was sold in the market instead of being disposed of.

Each hospital is supposed to maintain a record of the amount of biomedical waste disposed of by its authorities over a certain time. Often it has been noticed that in the case of RG Kar, the quantum of the biomedical wastes disposed of by its authorities during a certain time is much lesser than what was reported by other state-run medical colleges and hospitals of similar size during the same period. (IANS)