Staff Reporter :
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has found evidence of corruptions of Tk 375 crore and 20 types of irregularities in nine Covid-19 dedicated hospitals in the capital.
These anomalies happened when the country was facing first wave of deadly coronavirus last year.
Kurmitola General Hospital, a well-known Covid-19 dedicated hospital in the capital has issued a work order to a suppliers organization, Imaging Meditake, to provide 56 kinds of chemical reagent materials on 29 December 2019.
But the supplier without supplying materials withdrew Taka three crore within the following one year.
Like Kurmitola’s chemical imports, the Directorate General of Health Services’s (DGHS) own audit found irregularities in purchases in 95 sectors of eight other coronavirus dedicated hospitals.
Other hospitals in the list are Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH), Bangladesh Kuwait Moitree Hospital, Sir Salimullah Medical College and Mitford Hospital, National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation (NITOR), National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD), Mugda Medical College and Hospital, Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College and Hospital. The corruption process in these hospitals are different from one another.
After inspecting the purchases for one year from July 2019 to June 2020, the Ministry of Health says they found 20 types of irregularities. Of this, blankets worth Tk 350 were bought for Tk 2,418.
The bill was paid without getting medicine and equipment. In addition to buying many unuseable products, three companies under the same ownership have been given the opportunity to participate in the tender.
There are several steps for budgeting and buying the necessary items in the health sector. In this case, the experts are blaming the absence of accountability at all stages for the irregularities.
The members of the audit committee have recommended punishment for those involved in the irregularities.
Mohammad Shahadat Hossain, Additional Secretary (Financial Management and Audit Division) of the Ministry of Health, said process is underway to take necessary steps. Those involved in this corruption in the health sector will be brought to justice through fair investigation.
