The information provided by Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) on the purchase of Covid-19 vaccines is baseless, said Health Minister Zahid Maleque.
Rejecting the TIB report, the Health Minister said, “TIB provided such misleading information to tarnish the image of the country. If required, the government would take legal action against TIB in the interest of the country.
He made the remarks at a press conference at the Secretariat on Monday.
Health Secretary Lokman Hossain Mia and Health Education and Family Welfare Secretary Saiful Hasan Badal were present on the occasion.
Zahid Maleque said, Tk 200 million were spent on buying vaccines. The financial value of the nine and a half crore doses of vaccines that we got for free were estimated at Tk 200 million. These doses did not cost us any money. We just added the cost. It is not that we had to spend a total of Tk 400 million.
He further said that TIB conducted the survey by collecting data from only 105 centres and contacting only 1,800 people over telephone.
When asked about how many vaccines have been received so far from the Serum Institute of India, the Minister said,“A total of 1.5 crore vaccines have been received from the Serum Institute and the payment for those vaccines was made. The remaining 1.5 crore vaccines were not available.”
He added that there is no plan to purchase vaccine from India in future as the government has enough vaccines in stock.
The Health Minister said, “Our purchase is completely transparent but TIB has not worked transparently.”