Rahmatullah & Anup Balo:Corona has opened up the real face of the health sector. What is the cause of this weakness? Those who think about this sector show many reasons. The first reason is corruption. Analysts say 80 percent of health development allocations go to corruption. The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) identified 11 areas of corruption in the health sector. Among them is corruption in procurement, recruitment, promotion, transfer, posting, medical services, use of medical equipment and supply of medicines. Apart from corruption, the ACC also talks about a fancy corruption. And that is to buy a lot of unnecessary equipment for corruption. Equipment is purchased that does not have people to manage. These devices are never used.
Last year, the Anti-Corruption Commission made 25-point recommendations and identified 11 sectors to prevent corruption. ACC also added that the bad condition of the health sector is due to corruption. The ACC handed over the investigation to Health Minister Zahid Malek for action. But no action has been taken till date.
Experts say corruption must be prevented first. The allocation to the health sector so far would have been different if it had been planned and used by health and public health experts. With this we have to increase the manpower. Emphasis should be placed on health education and research. Although there is a rule to form a board of directors with locals in all the hospitals of the country, it does not happen. And where it is, it is not effective.
Bangladesh Medical Association (BMA) Secretary General Prof. Ehteshamul Haque said government employees, ministers, MPs and people`s representatives should be made compulsory to seek treatment at government hospitals in their respective areas. Then they will see the situation for themselves and focus on development.
According to a source in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, there are 30,000 government doctors in the country. There are about one lakh registered doctors. And the total number of health workers is not more than one lakh 30 thousand. The total number of public and private hospitals is 7,312. Of these, 2,258 are government hospitals, including community clinics. There are 254 complete hospitals. There is now one registered doctor for one thousand 581 people in Bangladesh. The number of beds in government hospitals is 52,807. The number of beds in private hospitals is 90,587. And the total population is more than 17 crores.
Dr. Ehteshamul Haque Chowdhury thinks that this picture of the country`s health sector is true due to low budget, just as most of the budget allocations have not come to any use in the health sector due to corruption. The plan has been bureaucratic. Unlike a doctor, need for three nurses. But there are half of them, said this doctor leader.
In 2017, TIB`s Khana survey identified the health sector as a corrupt sector. 42.5 percent of the people who took part in the survey have been victims of bribery while seeking health care. The latest in this corona is the PPE and N-95 mask scandal for doctors. The investigation is still going on, no action has been taken.
Iftekharuzzaman, the executive director of TIB said that there are two types of corruption in the health sector due to COVID. Firstly: Corruption in the healthcare sector and secondly: Corruption in the health infrastructure sector. Corruption is most prevalent in the procurement and distribution process. We have seen that corruption even in this Corona crisis.
Secretary General of BMA Dr. Ehteshamul Haque Chowdhury said, ‘It is a good thing that the budget has increased in the health sector. But it is unplanned. Bulk allocation is not a specific issue. As a result, 80 percent of this allocation goes to private funds.
In the midst of various scandals and controversies, the Director General of the Department of Health, Prof. Mohammad Abul Kalam Azad`s term ended and Aminul Hasan, the director of the hospital branch of the department, was removed. Due to such scandals in the health sector, the resignation of Health and Family Welfare Minister Zahid Malek is also being demanded from various quarters.
He is being asked to move away from various quarters. He said that the job of the health ministry is to prevent corruption and not to resign. We want proper management here, people get service. We have been working with people for the last five months. But the Ministry of Health was in the field, many have helped the Ministry of Health.
"Our mortality rate in Corona is now the lowest among the most populous countries in the world" he said. The good news is that the number of patients, especially in Dhaka city, has halved. There are more than three thousand empty beds in Dhaka.
Zahid Malek claimed that the number of COVID patients has decreased due to the good medical system, adding that people are taking treatment at home. The telemedicine that we are offering is working very well. More than four thousand doctors are giving telemedicine. The application of medicine is also very good. That is why people are getting services at home.
"We are in touch with those who are developing vaccines and are in the third stage," he said. We have everything in mind. Those coming from China have also contacted. We will accept whatever is good. When we will take, and from whom we will take, that is the government decision.
The health minister further said, "We will see where the changes are needed. We will definitely look into those issues." We want proper management here, people get service.
Besides, a nine-member task force has been formed by convening the Additional Secretary (Public Health) of the Ministry of Health on Sunday to oversee the proper medical system of hospitals across the country. This has been informed in the circular signed by the Deputy Secretary of the Ministry Shibbir Ahmed Osmani.
