Published: 12:15 AM, 29 October 2026
Mob outfit assaults IEDCR Director in his office
The director of the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) was assaulted inside his office after a group of people entered his room on Wednesday at around 11 a.m.
Professor Dr. Kazi Ahmed Zaki, the institute's director, complained that members of the Doctors Association of Bangladesh (DAB), an organization of pro-Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) physicians, carried out the attack by creating a mob.
Video footage of the assault shows Kazi Ahmed holding a meeting with several people in his office. At one point, eight or nine individuals enter the room, pull him out of his chair, and begin beating him.
The IEDCR is an important government institution responsible for monitoring disease outbreaks, conducting research, and issuing public health alerts. It also works jointly with organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).After the BNP government came to power, Professor Kazi Ahmed was appointed director, the institute's highest-ranking position. He is a public health specialist who recently conducted research on the effectiveness of the measles vaccine.
Confirming the incident, DAB President Professor Harun Al Rashid said, "He (Kazi Ahmed) is also at fault in some respects."
When asked what he had done wrong, Harun showed a photograph on his mobile phone and asked, "How could Kazi Ahmed hold a meeting with Mirjadi Sabrina Flora in his own office during this government?"
Public health specialist Mirjadi Sabrina Flora served as director of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), the Directorate General of Drug Administration, and the IEDCR during the Awami League government, which was ousted in the July mass uprising. She became widely known for briefing the media on COVID-19. She was later appointed additional director general of the DGHS.
A public health specialist who was present in Kazi Ahmed's office during the assault, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that they had never seen the individuals who carried out the attack at the IEDCR before.
Mushtaq Hossain, a public health specialist and former principal scientific officer at the IEDCR, condemned the assault, describing the beating of the institute's director inside his own office as highly reprehensible. He said the incident must be investigated and those responsible must be punished.
Talking to reporters about the incident, Kazi Ahmed Zaki said, "I am taking official action against them."
