New director general for health services Prof Dr Abul Bashar Mohammad Khurshid Alam has asserted that he will give priority to the pandemic management above everything at this moment as the Covid-19 is yet to die down.
“Life first. Something else after survival. Survival must be ensured first,” he said at the inaugural press briefing on Monday, a day after joining on Sunday amid controversies in pandemic management.
He was replying to a question of what would be his priority –accelerating the stagnant pandemic management or tackling corruption.
The question came as his predecessor Prof Abul Kalam Azad resigned following the detection of false certificate issuance by the Regent Hospital and JKG Healthcare, engaged for the Covid-19 services by the government.
The owners of the two private organisations have been arrested. But this had generated huge controversies with many smelt a rat over engaging those little-known organisations.
The new director general who was a professor of surgery at the Dhaka Medical College before this position said he would do whatever they can to restore the image of the directorate general.
In this regard, he also sought media’s support.
“We need your support to restore our image. I am not saying that you give us undue favour. You observe us for the next one or two months and let’s see what we can do. I want your cordial support. With your support, we will be able to pinpoint our problems and take cautious decisions so that in future we don’t have such problems”.
He said they would continue to implement the national plan of action for the pandemic while updating those with the latest evidence.
