TIB Expresses Concern over Ban on Providing Health Services Information

Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) has expressed deep concern over the ban on the exchange of information on patients and healthcare in government hospitals to the media during the Covid-19 outbreak. The organization also demanded immediate cancellation of the directive.

The TIB also called for strict action to be taken against those in whose interest such restrictions were imposed as opposed to making all-out efforts to control the coronavirus outbreak collectively through the free flow of information.

In a statement issued on Saturday (July 10th), Dr Iftekharuzzaman, executive director of TIB, said that the Covid-19 outbreak had taken a terrible turn in the country and the number of sufferers was increasing almost daily. At that time, there was a constitutional right of free media and free flow of information to restrict the disclosure of any information related to health and patient services of government hospitals under Dhaka district to the media. This is a complete violation of the Right to Information Act. At the same time, it conflicts with the promise of independent and objective journalism and deliberately obstructs the free collection and dissemination of information in the media.

He said the lockdown on coronavirus outbreak control has reduced access to information for the general public, depriving the media of access to up-to-date information on healthcare and making it difficult to get a true picture of the capacity and limitations of field hospitals, which may not be desirable. The question here is, who are the instructions of the higher authority that the Civil Surgeon referred to as the source of the order? And for what purpose do you want to control the flow of information locally? What are the benefits of outbreak control? It needs to be cleared on an urgent basis and steps must be taken now to stop the cycle of repeated attempts to impose such restrictions.

Expressing doubts as to whether the order was part of an intention to conceal information on ongoing irregularities, corruption, and arbitrariness in the health sector, the TIB executive director said the day after the directive was issued, the health department strictly enforced the ban. "There has been no irregularity or corruption in the health sector in recent times," he said. But in the last year, innumerable irregularities, corruption, and mismanagement in various fields including recruitment, purchase, construction of infrastructure, and services in the health sector can be found by opening the pages of newspapers.

This is also reflected in the report raised in the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Health. Recent research by TIB has also highlighted the lack of good governance in the sector, which has been widely discussed in various quarters. Therefore, it would not be unreasonable to assume that the efforts to cover up corruption, irregularities, and mismanagement in the health sector are tied in the same vein by banning the publication of this notification and the provision of information. In particular, when most of the corruption in the health sector in recent years has been uncovered by the media, barring journalists from gathering information locally through restrictions will create a wide range of opportunities to hide information on irregularities, corruption, and mismanagement; Which will also destroy all positive initiatives taken to deal with the epidemic. Therefore, it is necessary to immediately withdraw such arbitrary orders and take appropriate measures to control the epidemic effectively through the free flow of information.