Several senior officials of the health ministry have allegedly been using vehicles that belong to different projects of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) – for both their official and personal use.
Expensive vehicles of the projects – worth around Tk6m to Tk8m – have reportedly been allotted to senior ministry officials, including the former health minister, health advisor to the prime minister, state minister for health, and also the incumbent health secretary, additional secretaries, joint secretaries and deputy secretaries
Seeking anonymity, several top officials of the DGHS told the Dhaka Tribune that the objectives of the projects were being hampered as monitoring and supervision of the work was not being possible because of the shortage of transportations.
Sources also said all the expenses of the cars including fuel, gas and maintenance costs were drawn from the project funds.
All these information came to light when six of the vehicles were recently returned by the ex-health minister, health advisor and state minister.
As soon as the cars came back, several joint secretaries of the ministry had reportedly placed demands before different line directors of concerned projects for allotment of the cars. Out of those six cars, three have already been distributed to the joint secretaries.
Prof Dr Khondokar Md Sifayetullah, director general of the DGHS, said the authorities recently collected a list of a total 242 vehicles (Sports Utility Vehicles or SUVs, pick-ups, microbuses, ambulances) that were being used under different health projects in the country.
Although he admitted that a few cars were being used by senior health ministry officials, Dr Sifayetullah denied disclosing details.
Preferring anonymity, DGHS officials said most of the program managers and deputy program managers – who were politically appointed – were using the expensive cars, while many other senior officials were denied transport facilities.
There have also been claims that an unscrupulous quarter had been trying to sell the project cars by declaring them as out of order.
The former health minister had allegedly been using an SUV of the Health Promotion Bureau, while the state minister for health and personal secretary to the health minister had also been using SUVs belonging to the avian influenza project.
The health advisor to the prime minister had used a car of the tuberculosis program.
The health secretary and his office are currently occupying two SUVs of Expanded Immunization Program; while the additional secretaries are using three SUVs of the Filarial Program and two more cars from the tuberculosis program.
The joint secretaries (hospital and clinic, and administration) have been using two SUVs, while two pick-up trucks of the Communicable Disease Program have allegedly been occupied by the deputy secretary (world health) and senior assistant chief of the ministry.
The project director of Dhaka Medical College Hospital-2 is reportedly using two SUVs from the Community Clinic Project.
Seeking anonymity, a senior DGHS official said top officials including the DG, ADG and directors were also occupying project cars as there were only 18 pool cars allotted for the DGHS.
This reporter repeatedly tried to reach to health secretary, but failed to get any response.
However, Aiyubur Rahaman, additional secretary (medical education) of health ministry, said: “The car bought for any project must be used absolutely for that project’s work. There is no scope to use it otherwise.”
Although refusing to answer how senior ministry officials were using project cars, the additional secretary said officials often had to use pool cars if no vehicle was bought for the ministry with government money.