The fiscal year may have neared its end but a section of officers of the health ministry and department are busy getting funds out of the exchequer for last-minute foreign tours.
Last week, the health ministry had sent two separate letters to the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (OCAG), requesting advance release of nearly Tk40m to fund foreign tours for 157 doctors, officials and employees of the ministry.
Sources in the ministry said 64 people have been selected for foreign tours under the Operation Plan (OP) of the Health, Population and Nutrition Sector Development Program (HPNSDP).
Additionally, 93 people have been selected for in-service training under the same programme.
The Tk40m generally includes plane fare, daily allowance, tuition fees, and institutional and programme development fees.
These officials and employees would take part in various training programmes in a number of countries, including Malaysia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Singapore and China.
Sources also said the last moment hurry was a result of delays in releasing funds for the routine annual training of government employees.
They said had the funds been released on time, these employees would have been able to go on long-term trainings. But since the money would be released at the 11th hour of the fiscal year, all they would be able to do was go for short-term trainings.
These training tours eventually end up being nothing but pleasure trips for these people because they can hardly play any role in enhancing their skills.
Sources also said even though the fiscal year ends today according to existing rules, these employees could be sent abroad on training over the next two months, spending funds released during this fiscal year.
Health experts said although such trainings were very important for enhancing the skills, the practice of sending trainees on foreign tours at the last minute was completely immoral.
They said the country could have greatly benefitted from the enhanced skills of the government employees if the authorities could plan these tours beforehand.
The Dhaka Tribune has learnt that the health ministry had attached certain stipulations, including following the Public Procurement Rules, 2006 and the Public Procurement Act, 2008, in spending money raised in advance.
Besides that. it has also been made mandatory for the touring team to submit the expenditure details of the first instalment of the fund before receiving the second instalment.
Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, Professor Dr Abdul Hannan, line director of the Pre-Service Training Programme, claimed that they had prepared and planned for the training tours a long time ago.
But delays in the release of funds due to bureaucratic tangles force them to hurry at the last moment, he said.
