Doctor’s ACRs going to private hands

The department has issued two orders, copies of which are available with bdnews24.com, to make this unprecedented move.

In a surprising order, the Director General of the Directorate of Health Services Khondokar Md Shefayetullah has given a private firm full access to the Management Information System’s (MIS) ‘server room’ and ‘data centre’. He has stated in his order of Nov 6 that Nazdaq Technology will have full access to the centre to automate the Annual Confidential Reports (ACR) of 23,000 staff, most of them doctors. For this, Shefayetullah has said the firm should know the “detailed analysis of data centre, assess the capacity of all hard-ware and their connectivity, access the variety of topology of the Network, and assess disaster recovery capability of the data centre”. Giving Nazdaq access to the data centre and server room, the DG issued another order, transferring its only systems engineer to a Gopalganj hospital, leaving no government official at the centre. Following this order, Director, Administration, Dr Shah Newaj asked the Assistant Director, ACR section, to hand over the entire bulk of reports to the firm. But neither official could be reached for comments despite several attempts on Friday. The Senior Secretary to the Ministry of Public Administration and a former secretary were surprised to learn of the development when their views were sought. Senior Secretary Abdus Sobhan Sikder told bdnews24.com that he had no idea about this ‘specific’ case as the health department maintained its own records. “But in no circumstance can we share ACR with others. It’s a highly confidential document. We maintain its secrecy very strictly,” he said. “The room where it is stored and maintained is also a secret section. General people are not allowed there.” Former Secretary Dhiraj Kumar Nath, who had served at the health ministry, said the ACRs were kept under “maximum security”. “It’s the annual performance report of an officer. It is confidential,” he told bdnews24.com. Health minister AFM Ruhal Haque, too, told bdnews24.com that he had no idea about the order transferring all ACRs to a firm and giving it full access to the server and control room. “I wanted to automate all documents of the health ministry, and we have programmes for that. But that does not mean giving full access of the control room to a firm,” he said. He added that he had told the DG to report back on Saturday. According to the officials of the MIS, some staff of the Nazdaq Technology had brought along the DG’s order, seeking space in the control room. “The MIS chief had not been consulted,” said an official who cannot be named. MIS Chief Abul Kalam Azad, too, could not be reached. The move has left doctors worried. One of them said: “An ACR means a lot for our job confirmation, promotion and posting”. Officials aware of the move said an influential health directorate contractor was a Nazdaq patron. It is alleged that the DG’s office has close ties with the contractor, and the DG was quick to issue the order. Tenders had not been called before assigning the job. Some officials fear the move might hinder smooth MIS functioning, something that the present government is so proud of. The government obtained its UN South-South Award for ‘digital health for digital technology’ chiefly because of the performance of this MIS. The government equipped the centre with the state-of-the-art machines and developed, with the help of consultants, several health sector management softwares.