The new director general (DG) of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) is now entirely focused on bringing the country’s Covid-19 situation under control.
Prof Dr ABM Khurshid Alam made his goal abundantly clear on Monday while addressing an online press conference, his first official one after being appointed on July 23 and taking office on Sunday.
Asked which he would prioritise between tackling the Covid-19 pandemic and bringing corruption in the government agency under control, he picked the first one.
“At first we have to survive, and then we can go for rooting out corruption and addressing other issues,” he said.
As of Monday, according to the DGHS, which is spearheading the country’s fight against the pandemic, more than 226,225 confirmed Covid-19 cases and 2,965 deaths from the disease had been recorded across the nation.
Saying that prioritisation of tackling the pandemic and ensuring health services for the flood-affected people was short term, he added: “Once we come out of these situations, we will start looking into the other issues.”
Replying to another question about unnecessary procurement of medical equipment, Dr Khurshid, who previously headed the surgery department of Dhaka Medical College, said he was a clinician who had been involved in such procurement processes.
He said that would help him do his best to make sure that only the necessary procurement were made.
Alam was appointed after his predecessor Abul Kalam Azad resigned following allegations against the DGHS of irregularities and corruption in the approval of shady medical establishments to test and treat Covid-19 patients.
The new DG urged the media to run 'constructive reports' and 'help restore people’s confidence' in the DGHS through 'due appreciation' of the measures taken.
He also urged the media to observe his team’s work for a month or two before reaching any conclusion.
Coordinated approach underway
Since Covid-19 made landfall in Bangladesh in March, it had exposed the lack of coordination between the Health Ministry and DGHS — turning it into a much-talked-about topic.
On several occasions, it was seen that when the DGHS formed a committee, the ministry reacted by forming another panel.
These committees did not have much coordination among themselves.
Addressing Monday’s press briefing, Alam at the beginning expressed his desire to fulfil his responsibilities by working with the ministry and all DGHS units harmoniously.
He declined to comment on the lack of coordination observed previously, but said: “I have already met with Health Minister Zahid Maleque and Prof Dr Meerjady Sabrina Flora, the director of the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), after taking office.
“There will be no lack of coordination among the authorities [in future].”
Coordinated initiatives have already been started to ensure proper management of the system and a committee, comprising officials from the ministry, DGHS and IEDCR, was formed on Sunday in this regard, Dr Khurshid Alam added.
‘Covid-19 infections dropping’
Addressing the press briefing alongside Alam, DGHS Additional DG Prof Dr Nasima Sultana claimed the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases was dropping around the country.
“We are not at the peak anymore. IEDCR data also say that we are not going through a peak time,” she said.
She, however, admitted that the number of Covid-19 tests had also dropped.
Between Sunday and Monday mornings, 12,859 samples (including the pending ones) were tested in authorized labs across the country and 2,772 new patients were confirmed, according to the DGHS. However, the latest figures showed the single-day infection rate to 21.56%.
To date, 1,124,417 tests have been conducted in the country, leading to an overall infection rate of 20.12% so far.
Sultana said the number of tests had been decreasing as the patients showing Covid-19 symptoms and those who came in direct contact with an infected person were mainly getting tested.
She also claimed that people were losing interest in testing as the number of cases was on the decline.
