With just a touch over a month left before the end of the fiscal year, the government is sending more than 400 health officials on foreign tours funded by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Under the various operations plans and investment projects envisioned in the health ministry’s Health Population and Nutrition Sector Development Programme, the WHO lends an amount every year to send hundreds of doctors and health officials on overseas training programmes and study tours.
The Ministry of Health is supposed to send these officials and doctors abroad throughout the year.
But as has been happening for the last five to six years, the government is rushing at the 11th hour to send these officials on foreign tours because the validity of the allocation will run out with the completion of the fiscal year.
A total of 418 doctors and officials, including 285 from the health department, 93 from the health ministry and 40 from the family planning department, have received confirmation.
Ministry sources said only a handful of officials could be sent abroad for training over the past year because instalments of the WHO loan had not arrived in time.
They said the government received the last instalment of the loan only a few days ago.
A number of health department officials have told the Dhaka Tribune that the WHO was supposed to arrange the tours this year although the Bangladesh government has done it over the last few years.
The reason for the delay this year was that the WHO changed its decision at the last minute and asked the Bangladesh government to arrange the tours.
However, apart from a few privileged ones, most of these 418 officials are waiting to get the Government Order (GO) for the tours because the necessary funds have not yet been released.
Many of these shortlisted officials, especially those who have never had a chance to go abroad despite serving the government for decades, are anxious that their long cherished tour might never happen if they cannot get the GO before June 30, when the fiscal year ends.
Over the last few days, many of these officials have been seen thronging the health ministry and the department, trying to get their GOs.
Ministry insiders said these tours, mainly to the US, Thailand, Japan, China, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, range from three days to three months in duration.
The officials are generally given training in nearly 50 health-related courses including medical waste management, urban health management, mental health, tribal health, critical care, bone marrow transplant, teaching capacity building, burn management, cardiac surgery, breast surgery, DNA profiling, medical bio-technology, e-health and telemedicine, neurosurgery and head-neck surgery.
The government has, in the past, been criticised for hurrying, often under political influence, with the shortlist at the last minute, and in the process, sending many officials to attend courses completely irrelevant to their areas of expertise.
In such cases, the all-expenses-paid training and study tours eventually turned out to be nothing but pleasure trips and trainees were often reportedly seen flunking classes or sitting quietly during sessions just to pass time, critics said.
Admitting the mistakes made in the past while preparing the list, Professor Dr Khandakar Md Shefayetullah, Director General of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), claimed that this year the list was carefully prepared and contained only competent officials.
According to the shortlist, 65 officials will visit Malaysia, China, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Indonesia to receive 10-days’ training on Hospital Service Management.
Fifty-one officials will visit Malaysia, China, Thailand, and Indonesia to get 10-days’ training on seven subjects under Essential Service Delivery while 135 individuals will go to Malaysia, China, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Indonesia to be trained on 12 subjects under In-service Delivery.
Twenty six officials will travel to China, Indonesia and Thailand under three Management Information System courses, and six people will fly to Thailand on a 14-day visit to receive training on Health Education and Promotion.
Besides, 93 officials are scheduled to go abroad to study on nine subjects under the Community Clinic Project.
