An automobile parts supplier, who secured a deal from the Directorate General of Health Services to supply personal protective equipment worth Tk 32 crore, allegedly escaped after receiving the initial payment of Tk 9 crore without supplying any PPE.
Jadid Automobiles reached the deal with the DGHS on May 19 to provide the medical supplies within 45 days under the World Bank-funded COVID-19 Emergency Response and Pandemic Preparedness project.
As per the deal, the supplies included 50,000 coveralls, 50,000 KN95 masks, 50,000 N95 masks and one lakh gloves.
Jadid Automobiles received the initial payment of Tk 9 crore on the day of signing the agreement.
But although nearly three months have passed, the contractor delivered no medical supplies to the DGHS yet.
‘We did not receive any medical supplies from Jadid Automobiles till date,’ DGHS director (communicable disease control) Shahnila Ferdousi told New Age on Monday.
Shahnila also heads the committee on inspections of medical supplies under the COVID-19 emergency project.
Then DGHS director (planning) Iqbal Kabir was the project director when the deal was signed with Jadid Automobiles.
Iqbal was later made an officer on special duty in June as irregularities in other procurement contracts were detected under the project.
Contacted, Iqbal declined to talk to New Age but said that he would reply to text messages.
In such a reply he said that it was ‘not true’ that no supplies were delivered by Jadid Automobiles.
Jadid Automobiles, he said, has received 30 per cent advance payment and has supplied a number of items while some items have been lying at the airport for long for clearance.
‘There are coordination issues between the DGHS and the present project director,’ he said.
The COVID-19 emergency project is currently without project director after DGHS director (hospitals) Aminul Hasan, who had replaced Iqbal Kabir, was also made an OSD following the revelation of the Regent Hospital scam last month.
DGHS deputy director Kazi Shamim Hossain, who works for the project now, declined to comment.
Jadid Automobiles owner Kazi Shamimuzzaman Kanchan did not respond to phone calls.
He was also not found at his address in the capital’s Pallabi area, which was mentioned in the agreement.
The house owner said that Shamimuzzaman had rented a room in the basement of his building a few months ago and that he knew him as an automobile parts trader, adding that he did not visit the place after COVID-19 emerged in the country.
Asked about what measures have been taken or would be taken against Jadid Automobiles, Shahnila said that she could not give any detail now as she was out of town.
Health ministry additional secretary (hospitals) Muhibur Rahman, who also heads the committee on procurement related to COVID-19, said that the Health Services Division head (planning) of the ministry was tasked with looking after the WB-funded COVID-19 project.
Asked, Health Services Division head (planning) Helal Uddin told New Age around Monday noon that he would give his comment in the afternoon, but he did not respond to phone calls later.
The incident surfaced on the back of a series of scams in the country’s healthcare system related to the COVID-19 crisis, including supplying of fake N95 masks to doctors and forged COVID-19 test certificate business by Regent Hospital and JKG Health Care.
Transparency International Bangladesh executive director Iftekharuzzaman sharply condemned the incident.
He said, ‘This is another shameless example of collusive promotion of incompetence, inexperience and unfair play in public procurement of health safety-related specialised products by incompetent, irresponsible and corrupt officials of the relevant authority, particularly the health directorate reportable to another citadel of incompetence and corruption, namely health ministry.’
‘Not only the automobile parts dealer turned a health equipment vendor, but also those in the health directorate and/or ministry who facilitated and collaborated in this act must be brought to justice’, he added.
Regent Hospital signed a deal with the DGHS to treat COVID-19 patients but it had no requisite licence for the purpose.
Moreover, the hospital realised huge amounts of money from patients though it was under an agreement that it would treat the patients free of charge as the government would pay for their treatment.
After the Rapid Action Battalion unearthed the Regent Hospital scam, it was revealed that the owner of the hospital, Md Shahed, who boasted dozens of pictures with ruling Awami League’s top leaders and senior government officials, received undue privilege to secure the deal from the health ministry and DGHS.-New Age
