Ensure safety of physicians, health workers

There had been allegations of irregularities regarding procurement and the quality of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) and N-95 masks, from the very onset of COVID-19 outbreak in the country. A Prothom Alo report on 23 June reported that serious irregularities and corruption had taken place while buying protective gears and masks.

A grave irregularity is obvious — the physicians were provided with Level D PPE when they required Level A PPE. The supplied PPEs were not suitable to protect the physicians and health workers. Over 100,000 low quality PPEs have been bought and sent to 63 districts. They were bought on a much higher rate than the market price.

In a more concerning manner, the gears were provided to the physicians without even testing their quality. Two members of the five-member committee formed to monitor the quality of PPE, told Prothom Alo, they were not informed on the purchase of the PPE.

So far, 45 physicians in the country succumbed to coronavirus and similar complications. Some 1,097 more have been infected. The figure is much higher among nurses and other health workers — about 2,500. The principle reason for this is the substandard protective equipment. A soldier cannot be sent to war without proper arms and armour, a physician too cannot be asked to carry out his duty without quality protective accessories. This unfair business has been done to the physicians and health workers. They have been driven to death with low quality PPE and N-95 masks.

Such a higher rate of deaths among physicians could be avoided. The figure would be much less if their protection was ensured. The allegations of irregularities and corruption over the protective equipment must be probed. Stern punitive action must be taken against the convicted culprits. The committee formed to monitor the quality of the PPEs was assigned to come up with a written evaluation report. This must be probed why did they fail in that and proper action must be taken against the responsible ones.

It must be probed why the 620-million initiative to set up a specialised temporary hospital for physicians and nurses, funded by World Bank and Asian Development Bank, in Mahakhali has not been finished yet. It must be investigated whether the influential syndicate of contractors have compromised with any section of the health department over purchase of protective equipment. The tyranny must be ended.

It will be hard to contain the contagion if the irregularities and corruption are not checked. So far, corrupt and selfish people had contributed to the failure to contain the spread of the virus. Efficient management is impossible by such people. This is going on due to lack of accountability. Initiatives must be taken for accountability. A zero-tolerance policy must be adopted over irregularity and corruption.

We do not want to lose any more physicians.