The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health Ministry has detected massive corruption in procurement by six civil surgeons who are alleged to have misappropriated over Tk 20 crore in the last financial year.

They were in charge of buying medical equipment, furniture and fittings for Sadar hospitals and thana health complexes.

Price of a 25-taka 60-watt ordinary bulb was shown at Tk 1852, a 400-taka steel tray at Tk 17.000. a 3.000-taka steel rack at Tk 24.000 and that of a two-

taka blood testing slide at Tk 13.

These are some of the examples of glaring irregularities done in the purchase of equipment for hospitals in Kurigram. Lalmonirhat, Gaibandha, Nao-gaon, Chapainawabganj and Munshiganj districts, according to a committee report.

In some cases, equipment and furniture were purchased without any requisition from the thana health complexes concerned and vouchers did not tally with work orders in some others.

The report said that the civil

surgeons of the six districts gave the work orders, and that the irregularities were done by them in connivance with the suppliers and some officials of the ministries of heath and fi-

Most surprisingly, funds were released from the finance ministry without delay. In many cases, funds were d;s-bursed on the day bills we.e submitted. A deputy secretary and a senior assistant secretary of the health ministry and an assistant secretary of the finance ministry were involved in the irregularities and the officials did not inform their higher authorities about disbursement of the funds, the report said.

The report was prepared after five months’ investigation by a sub-committee headed by Tajul Islam.

The report was submitted to the Chairman of the Standing Committee Dr. Kazi Abu Yusuf last week and its findings were the main topic of discussion at its Wednesday’s meeting, sources said.

The Committee recommended that the persons involved be suspended immediately. misappropriated funds refunded and inquiry started by the Anti-corruption Bureau and the health ministry.

Investigation against eight more civil surgeons on purchase of hospital equipment are going on now. the sources said.

The report also said that such irregularities had been going on at least for the last 15 years but could not be detected despite repeated allegations because earlier reports by parliamentary standing committees were often found "biased" as those were headed by the health minister.

Among the six, Naogaon district civil surgeon allegedly misappropriated the highest amount of Tk 7.56 crore, according to the report.

The funds, as shown by the civil surgeon’s office, were used for purchasing new furniture, wall painting and repair work. In one lot. price of a 400-taka steel tray was shown at Tk 17,000 in the voucher and the contractor was Messrs Prema Enterprise of Rajshahi, the report revealed.

The security money deposited was only Tk 10.000 whereas as per rules at least five per cent of the contract value is to be deposited as security money.

The report also mentioned that the civil surgeon, after spending the amount, had asked for an extra MSR (Medical and Surgical Requisition) allocation of Tk 7 crore. It was however, refused later on.

For Lalmornirhat district, the extra amount allocated was Tk 4.19 crore. The contractor who supplied the items was Taslim Uddin of Shehab Bazar, Rajshahi.

The contractor had supplied 4 -inch leucoplast medicated dressing to the Civil Surgeon’s office at the rate ofTk 480 each whereas its retail price in the market is only Tk 35. A saucepan was shown to have cost Tk 7.400, which normally costs hot more than Tk 400.

In Gaibandha, steel racks worth Tk 3.000 each were purchased at the rate of Tk 24.000. 80-taka buckets at Tk 450 and 25-taka 60-watt ordinary’ bulbs at the rate of Tk 1852 each.

The civil surgeon Of Kuri-gram spent an extra amount Tk 1.2 crore.

In Munshiganj. the extra amount for MSR was Tk 3.74 crore. Fopr lakh pieces of blood testing slides were bought at the rate of Tk 13 each against the price of only Tk 2 and 30.000 pieces of hand gloves at the rate of Tk 140 each against the market price of Tk 15 only. The contractor was Tofazzal Hossain of Rajshahi.

The names of the civil surgeons are Dr Shamsuddin Ahmed of Kurigram. Dr Abdus Samad and former civil surgeon Sheikh Abdul Jalil of Lalmo-nirhat, Dr MD Shahidullah of Gaibanda. Dr Abdullah Hashemi of Naogaon. Dr Binod Bihari Shaba of Chapai Naw-abganj and Dr Azizur Rahman of Munshiganj.

Meanwhile. APB reports from Sherpur that the Civil Surgeon of the district has been suspended on charges of irregularities and misappropriation of Tk 8.8 crore.

The suspension order against E R Chowdhury was issued by the Health Directorate on December 28, official sources said.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Ministry of Health and Family Welfare took the decision following allegations published against Chowdhury in different print-media.