Tackling Graft, Pandemic: MPs rap the health ministry for failure

Opposition lawmakers yesterday came down heavily on the health ministry for its failure to curb corruption and ensure healthcare for people amid the Covid pandemic.

They also sought increased budgetary allocation for the health sector and its proper utilisation.

The MPs were taking part in a discussion in the Jatiya Sangsad on the supplementary budget for fiscal 2020-21.

GM Quader, deputy leader of the opposition, said people hear only words of hope from the government over securing Covid vaccines.

"We still don't know for sure when we will get more vaccines…We're just hearing words of hope over vaccines through news reports."

Quader, also chairman of the Jatiya Party, further said the finance minister in his budget speech mentioned that the government took measures to bring 80 percent of the population under vaccination coverage and some 25 lakh vaccine jabs will be administered a month.

"If so, three crore vaccine jabs can be administered a year. And it will take five years for administering one dose of vaccine to the entire population and 10 years for two doses."

About the health sector, Quader said only 0.83 percent of the GDP has been allocated for the health sector in the proposed budget for the next fiscal year, but the World Health Organisation suggested it should be 4 to 5 percent of the GDP.

"We should have allocated at least 2 percent of the GDP for the health sector amid this pandemic."

Moreover, the funds allocated for the sector are being misused because of corruption. But no one gets punished for the irregularities, he said.

BNP lawmaker Harunur Rashid said the health ministry's procurement process has turned into a big source of corruption. The health minister should clarify what reforms will be carried out in the ministry.

A committee should be formed to pull the ministry out of this situation, he suggested.

Rashid pointed out that many district-level public hospitals are facing a shortage of physicians and technicians while those in the capital have more than one doctor against each post.

Millions of people go to India for medical treatment, meaning crores of taka are flowing out of the country. This can be prevented by overhauling the health sector, he noted.

The BNP lawmaker said the health minister should clearly state when the vaccination programme will resume.

Twenty lakh people are now waiting to get their second vaccine jab following the suspension of the vaccination programme, he mentioned.

"If necessary, vaccine import should be made open to all. But measures have to be taken so that no corruption takes place. In the past, a company that has links with an adviser to the prime minister brought vaccines…"

Rumeen Farhana, a lawmaker from the BNP, said that amid the pandemic, India increased allocation for the health sector by 137 percent in this year's budget, compared to that in the previous year. But in Bangladesh, it has been raised by only 12 percent.

Besides, the health ministry cannot spend its budget allocation. It could spend only 25 percent of the ADP allocation in 10 months of the outgoing fiscal year.

"The health minister has to answer why 75 percent of the funds remains unused."

JP lawmaker Kazi Firoz Rashid said, "Now we need uninterrupted oxygen supply at public hospitals. But instead of ensuring it, MRI and CT scan machines are being bought and sent to different hospitals. Moreover, these machines remain idle as these hospitals don't have technicians to operate those."

Another JP MP, Rowshan Ara Mannan, said a section of officials at the health ministry has been resorting to corruption but nothing has been done to curb it.

In response to criticism from the opposition MPs, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said it's a huge task to provide health services amid the pandemic that has been raging on for one and a half years.

He claimed that Bangladesh has shown great success in tackling the pandemic.

The minister said the country now has around a hundred Covid-dedicated hospitals, and there has been a threefold increase in ICU facilities during the pandemic.

Zahid said the government has to spend Tk 15,000 for providing treatment to each Covid patient admitted to a general ward at a public hospital. The amount is Tk 50,000 each for those admitted to ICUs.

Because of the government measures, the Covid death rate in Bangladesh is around 1.5 percent while the global rate is about 2.5 percent.

He also claimed that there has been no shortage of medicine or oxygen supply in hospitals.

Securing Covid vaccines and inoculating people are a continuous process, and it is going on, the minister said.

Serum Institute of India was unable to provide vaccines due to the surge in Covid deaths and cases in that country. Arrangements have been made to bring vaccines from China, Russia and the US, he added.