Physician and politician Tasnim Jara has questioned the government and police over the demolition of a health centre in Mirpur that had provided low-cost maternal and child healthcare for five decades.

She asked how around 200 people with heavy machinery were able to raze the facility despite police being alerted.

In a post on her verified Facebook page, Jara said the incident had consequences beyond the destruction of the facility, pointing to looted vaccination records, vaccines rendered unusable and two missing ultrasonography machines.

“About 200 people brought heavy machinery and razed a health centre to the ground barely one kilometre from a police station,” she wrote.

Citing the Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner as saying the demolition could not have been carried out within half an hour or an hour, Jara said staff at the centre had also alerted police while it was happening.

“So what were the police doing while this was happening? How are people supposed to have confidence in the police?” she asked.

Jara said vaccines removed from refrigerators or left on the floor could no longer be administered because vaccines must be maintained at the required temperature.

She also raised concern over the reported looting of vaccination registers, which contain records of vaccines already administered to individual children and doses still due.

Without those records, she said, children could miss subsequent doses because health workers may no longer be able to identify who requires follow-up.

Jara said two ultrasonography machines were also missing, leaving low-income pregnant women in the area with fewer options if they cannot afford ultrasound examinations at private clinics.

The facility had been scheduled to begin a measles-rubella vaccination campaign this week, she said, amid concerns over measles cases in Bangladesh.

“Yet, on the night before vaccinations were due to begin, the vaccination centre itself was demolished,” she wrote.

Jara also questioned whether political protection had enabled the incident.

Citing a Prothom Alo report, she said previous attempts to seize the property had failed but efforts resumed after the BNP came to power in 2026.

“Why do land grabbers become emboldened when you come to power? Who in your party is giving them protection?” she asked. “Unless those responsible are brought to justice, what meaning will any of your achievements have?”

Jara pointed to allegations involving local BNP leaders in separate property disputes in Kuakata, Lalmonirhat and Bandar in Narayanganj.

She noted that the party had expelled a leader in Joypurhat over a separate allegation but said disciplinary action was not enough.

“Expulsion is no substitute for prosecution,” Jara said. “Do you intend to stop these land grabs, or merely respond with expulsions and statements?”

She said the government Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) vaccines and vaccination registers were among the items looted, arguing that the incident therefore affected the state vaccination programme as well as the private health facility.

“What is the Health Ministry doing now for the children in this area?” she asked. “Who will take responsibility for identifying which children are still due for which vaccines?”

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