Tareen Rahman :A tender bid to swindle around one hundred crore taka by a group of corrupt officials in health sector in the name of purchasing machineries for two hospitals and nine Upazila Health Complexes of Pabna district has been foiled by the timely intervention of Health Minister Mohammad Nasim. Two officers involved in this conspiracy have been relieved of heir duties and made OSD. When enquired about this conspiracy, the Health Minister told this reporter that he was astonished to know that a work order of such a huge amount of money could be passed without informing the Health Ministry. As soon as the matter came to his knowledge, he immediately stopped the work order of the tender. Besides, the health minister said, if the officers are found guilty after an enquiry, they would be punished.Sources said, the Civil Surgeon of Pabna, the Caretaker of General Hospital, some leaders of the ruling party and contractors have jointly prepared the blueprint with a view to plundering around one hundred crore taka.It is learnt that the decision was taken in March last year to purchase heavy and MSR machineries for Pabna Mental Hospital, General Hospital and nine Upazila Health Complexes. A demand note was also placed to the Central Drug Store (CMSD) from the Civil Surgeon’s Office for purchasing the machinery. A tender in this regard was opened on April 16, 2014 in collaboration among a syndicate of the CMSD, contractors and the local authority of Pabna. In this bid, an organization named Bengal Scientific received permission to purchase machineries for the hospitals as the lowest bidder. But, due to their poor budget, this organization could not complete their purchase. Bengal Scientific has recently made a request to the ministry for money to purchase the equipment.It is to be noted that all these had taken place without the permission of the Health Ministry. The couple physicians — Dr. Tahsin Begum, Civil Surgeon of Pabna District and Dr. AKM Monwarul Aziz, caretaker of Pabna General Hospital — were found to be involved with in this corruption attempt and they were made OSD.When asked, Dr. Monwarul Aziz declined to talk to this reporter. He only said that he had already gone on retirement. His wife, Dr. Tahsin Begum, also declined to talk over the issue.
