DGHS vows action in instances of vaccine stealing

Director general of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), ABM Khurshid Alam said on Sunday that actions will be taken if any of the officials of the health directorate are found to be involved in the recent incident of selling Covid vaccines in some of the cities in the country including Dhaka, reports UNB.

He said this while talking to the news agency during a visit to National Institute of Neurosciences & Hospital in Dhaka.

He said vaccine stealing is a sensitive issue and investigation is going on regarding this.

His warning came days after police held Bijoy Krishna Talukdar, owner of “Doridro Paribar Seba” clinic in city’s Dakshinkhan area for illegally administering Moderna Covid-19 vaccines.

In the raid on 18 August police recovered and seized from the clinic two ampoules and 22 empty boxes of Moderna Covid Jabs.

In separate comments DGHS additional director general Meerjady Sabrina Flora said there will be more booths at vaccination centres to accelerate the inoculation drive.

Many people are still on the waiting list even after registering for the shots, she said.

“We have directed to open sub-centres for administering jabs if needed. Hopefully the vaccination situation will improve soon”, she said.

More than 17 million people are waiting to receive Covid vaccine after completing the registration process at present.

She said her department is not lowering the guard against Covid spread as the daily positivity rate is still over 16 per cent.