Amid a barrage of criticism, the director general of the health service directorate on Friday apologised for his comments on the possible duration of the coronavirus pandemic.
“A confusion was created over the remarks of Prof Abul Kalam Azad, director general of the Directorate General of Health Services, made on Thursday during
the daily bulletin. He is deeply regretful for it,” said the DGHS in a statement on Friday.
It said the script of the DG’s speech had been hastily prepared at the time and he couldn’t review its contents carefully before going public.
During the daily briefing yesterday, Abul Kalam Azad said, “According to the experience of different countries of the world and observations of health scientists and public health experts, the corona situation is not going to end in one, two or three months.”
“It’ll stay for more than two, three years or longer. Though in our view, the magnitude of infection will lessen,” he added.
His remarks drew flak from different quarters, with public health experts decrying it and saying such a statement would create confusion and panic.
Earlier on Friday, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader joined in the criticism, asking top officials of DGHS to refrain from making “short-sighted and irresponsible” remarks.
The DG’s remarks came at a time when the country is grappling with surging Covid-19 cases and deaths. Caseloads have already crossed the grim milestone of 100,000 in just over three months after the authorities detected the first patient.
