A large number of lifesaving medical equipments remain unused for decades at different public medical facilities across the country, wasting millions in taxpayers’ money and denying healthcare to needy patients.
The Dhaka Tribune has been able to get hands on a draft list showing expensive unused medical instruments including intensive care unit (ICU) ventilators, x-ray machines, ultra-sonogram machines, hydraulic operation theatre (OT) tables, generators, anesthesia machines, incubators, laparoscopy machine, OT light and neuromuscular block monitor, that are lying around totally unused in various institutes.
These equipments have not been used since they were bought years ago, allegedly because of inadequate infrastructure, or because the equipments were not needed at the facilities and only purchased to fill the pockets of some government officials and contractors.
Seeking anonymity, several senior officials of the health ministry and the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said the ministry issued a directive to different hospitals and institutes on the first week of December last year, asking them to compile and submit a list of unused medical equipments.
They also alleged that contractors and suppliers often paid bribes in the forms of cash, foreign trips and free treatment in foreign hospitals to ministers, high-ranking government officials and doctors, to get their orders approved.
Hospital officials also reportedly make unnecessary purchases, as they choose to spend the annual allocation of funds for buying equipment, instead of returning the unspent funds to the ministry.
Asked about the large number of unused equipment, Health Secretary MM Niazuddin said all health sector officials were responsible for the practice, and admitted that sometimes equipments were bought to spend the allocated budget.
The ministry has recently formed a committee to identify the people behind the practice, he added.
Asked about the issue, Dr Mahmmod Hasan, president of Bangladesh Medical Association (BMA), told the Dhaka Tribune: “Ideally, all medical equipment should be bought based on demand of the concerned institute; but in most cases, there has been a huge gap between demand and supply. There should be coordination between health ministry, health directorate and the different institutes that are users and suppliers of the equipment.”
The Dhaka Tribune has learned that an x-ray machine has remained unused for 27 years, since it was supplied by the Central Medical Stores Depot to the 250-bed Tangail General Hospital on January 21, 1987. Another incubator machine also remains unpacked there since August 2010.
The National Institute of Mental Health in Dhaka has left an anesthesia machine unused since February 2003, allegedly because of inadequate manpower and infrastructure.
The Netrokona Adhunik Sadar Hospital was yet to set up a 60kV generator it received in December 2007.
Similarly, Khagrachhari Adhunik District Sadar Hospital received a 50kV generator from the CMSD in January 2008, but had to leave it inside the box, as there was no room available to set up the machine. In 2011, two hydraulic OT tables were also supplied, but no engineer was found to operate the equipment.
A neuromuscular block monitor has stayed unpacked at the 250-bed Jessore General Hospital since January 2008, because of the lack of space and trained doctors. The same hospital also has a 40kV generator left unused since June 2008, reportedly because they did not need it. Other unpacked equipment at the hospital includes anesthesia machine and hydraulic OT table that were supplied on 2010 and 2011 respectively.
The CMSD supplied OT lights to the Narayanganj civil surgeon in December 2010, which was supposed to be used at a proposed 20-bed hospital in Siddirganj, the site for which was yet to be selected.
During 2009 to 2013, the CMSD also supplied incubators, anesthesia machines, laparoscopy machines and ultra-sonogram machines to Brahmanbaria District Sadar Hospital, none of which has been used so far.
Between October and November of 2013, the CMSD supplied ultra-sonogram machine and ICU ventilator machine to the Jaipurhat modern district hospital but no one has so far set it up.
A former official of the CMSD said a generator could cost around Tk25-30 lakh, an anesthesia machine Tk8-10 lakh, and a laparoscopy machine Tk10-15 lakh.
