Parliamentary probe body finds 'irregularities in purchase'

A parliamentary probe committee has found irregularities in the purchase of various goods and equipment for Faridpur Medical College Hospital.

The work order has been given to the bidder (non-responsive) who failed to fulfill all the conditions of technical qualification instead of the bidder (responsive) who fulfilled the conditions, according to the probe body.

The parliamentary committee said the selection of the bidder has caused a huge amount of financial loss of the state.

A sub-committee (probe body) was formed on 20 November, 2019 by the parliamentary committee of the health and family welfare ministry to investigate allegations of irregularities in the procurement of the hospital. The probe committee presented its report at the parliamentary committee meeting on Sunday.

According to the sources, the probe report said that government procurement policy was not followed while purchasing the curtains, oxygen generating machine and linear accelerator machines of the hospital.

The equipment have been accepted without proper examination. The division of health services has been recommended to take legal action against those involved in purchasing and receiving the equipment.

The report further said that there is ambiguity and inconsistency in the statements of former and current directors, representatives of tender evaluation committee, technical committee and equipment procurement committee involved in the purchase of various equipment for Faridpur Medical College Hospital since the fiscal year of 2012-13 till now.

Sources said the committee had finalised the report earlier. But no meetings of the parliamentary committee have been held in the last nine months due to the coronavirus outbreak. As a result, the report could not be presented.

The committee examined all the documents related to the purchase and took statements from the people concerned and inspected them on the spot. They also held a meeting at Faridpur Medical College Hospital.

According to the sources, the report recommended on providing training on financial discipline and administrative activities to the officials including the directors of all the hospitals including the Faridpur hospital.

It is recommended by the health services division to set up a monitoring team to regularly monitor whether the equipment purchased in all government hospitals is being procured in a proper manner while maintaining the quality and whether the equipment is being used in the service of the people.

Sources said that five people worked as project directors of Faridpur Medical College Hospital from 2012 to 2016. Initially the project director was ASM Jahangir. He told Prothom Alo that he was involved in some purchases while in charge. There have been allegations of some irregularities while purchasing. Of the items, three were purchased at inflated price. They were later approved in the revised budget. That's all he knows.

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed a case on 26 November that year alleging a corruption worth billions of Tk in the purchase of curtains and equipment. A total of six people including the contractors and the doctors have been accused in the case.

The accused are Ganpati Biswas, associate professor, the department of dentistry, Faridpur Medical College Hospital, Meenakshi Chakma, junior consultant, the department of gynecology, AHM Nurul Islam, former pathologist, Abdullah Al Mamun, owner of Anik Traders, Munshi Farrukh Hossain, owner of Ahmed Enterprise and Munshi Sajjad Hossain, administrative officer of National Institute of Diseases of the Chest and Hospital in Dhaka.

Besides, two former project directors of Faridpur Medical College Hospital Establishment Project were permanently sacked in September last year.

Iftekharuzzaman, the executive director of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB), told Prothom Alo that although late, the parliamentary committee investigated the allegations of corruption, which is a positive sign.

Allegations of this corruption were widely discussed. Those who are not responsive should be dropped in the beginning. But they got the job. That means there have been serious irregularities here.

Immediate departmental and legal action should be taken against the contractor and all the officers and employees concerned, TIB official said.

Ifthekharuzzaman said this investigation will also be helpful in the ACC case.