Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) on Friday slammed the government directive that asked law enforcing agencies to take permission from authorities concerned before conducting any raids in private or public hospitals.

“Because the concern here is if raids were conducted without permission, some big fishes might get caught,” said TIB Executive Director Dr Iftekharuzzaman in a video message published on the organization’s YouTube channel today.

He said there are multiple components to this directive. First of all, a vested quarter is very worried that if raids were to conducted in hospitals without permission, they might be dragged in the mud too. There are people who were involved in the decision making process and now they fear of being exposed of possible implication.

The second point is that people know about the role authorities of private and public hospitals played behind this directive to come into effect. They have no confidence of doing their jobs transparently without corruption. It would not be necessary if that was the case, he said.

Dr Iftekharuzzaman said hospital authorities would not be worried about raids if they had accountability and honesty.

And finally, the most shocking part here is that the government or the health ministry is indirectly saying that the directive was issued to ensure that law enforcing agencies are carrying out their duties without any misuse or abuse of power. That means the ministry does not have confidence on law enforcing agencies. A portion of the countrymen also has this lack of confidence on law enforcing agencies about their abuse of power. It is undeniable. 

But no matter how we interpret it, it is hard to believe that this directive won’t be used to stop exposing the corrupt and ramshackle image of the hospitals, the TIB director said. 

BDST: 2000 HRS, AUG 07, 2020
AP