THE health sector has hardly ceased to be in the mire of corruption allegations, especially since Covid-19 broke out in early 2020. Corruption allegations, however, blemished the sector before the Covid outbreak, with some cases having been proved, and a series of corruption allegations were also labelled against the sector amidst the outbreak of the disease, with some cases having been proved and pending investigation or trial. The Directorate General of Health Services in an advertisement that it published in daily newspapers on Friday, in about 10 days after opposition members of parliament had criticised the health minister for the ministry’s poor performance, has calculated the cost of a single Covid vaccine dose to be Tk 3,000 and of a single Covid test to be Tk 3,000, raising eyebrows, with many having thought that the costs projected are unrealistic. The health services agency has said that it spent Tk 30.45 billion on buying 10.15 million doses of Covid vaccines.
Bangladesh has so far received seven million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from the Serum Institute of India under a tripartite agreement signed on November 4, 2020 involving Serum, its local agent Beximco Pharmaceutical and the health ministry, which cost Bangladesh about Tk 425, or $5, each, taking the total cost to Tk 2.975 billion. The health services agency advertisement has further said that it spent Tk 27.475 billion on the import of 3.15 million doses of the Sinopharm vaccine from China, which comes down to Tk 8,722.2, or $100, each. But on May 27, a government committee approved the purchase of 15 million doses of the Sinopharm vaccine for $10 each. This is where the corruption allegation comes in. A health services official, however, seeks to say that the cost, which is Tk 8,722.2, includes the price of the dose and the cost of carrying and administration. This has lent credence to the allegation that the cost of the vaccine as stated in the advertisement is much higher than the price the government announced when it made negotiations with the Indian and Chinese companies. The chief of health services has, however, declined comments on the cost of vaccine dose and Covid test as stated in the advertisement. The cost of Tk 3,000 for a Covid test run by the government also appears to be higher compared with what private health facilities charge for the same test. There has, therefore, been a growing concern about a probable corruption in the process of the procurement of Covid vaccines.
Such a proposition appears to have been grounded in a series of corruption and scams that have plagued the health sector after the disease broke out and in other figures of Covid mitigation cost, which appear to be unrealistic, that the health services agency stated in the advertisement. The government must, therefore, adhere to the highest possible transparency in the Covid vaccine procurement and the vaccination process to check against corruption, confusion and controversy. The health sector must no longer be the vehicle of corruption and the government must make the vaccine procurement and other Covid mitigation efforts transparent.
