The Daily Star
The health and family welfare ministry yesterday formed a three-member committee to probe how 17 files, all deemed important, went missing from its premises on Thursday.
The committee, which is led by Md Shah Alam, additional secretary (administration) of the Health Education Division, has been asked to submit their investigation report within five working days.
The two other members are Md Ahsan Kabir, joint secretary (medical education), and Mohammad Abdul Qader, deputy secretary (medical education-1) of the ministry.
The majority of the files were related to procurement by different medical colleges and health institutions, according to the missing list.
The dockets include purchase documents related to Shaheed Taj Uddin Ahmad Medical College Hospital in Gazipur and Rajshahi Medical College Hospital, the National Institute of Population Research and Training’s data on breast and cervical cancer screening programmes and purchases, vehicle purchase of different training schools.
Besides, the missing files include the documents of the Directorate of Nursing and Midwifery and the Directorate of Medical Education.
The files were stored in a room where the activities of the Purchase and Collection-2 Section are conducted under the supervision of Shahdat Hossain, additional secretary (development) of the medical education and family welfare division of the ministry, according to a general diary filed with the Shahbagh police station on Thursday.
The room is adjacent to Hossain’s office at room No 29 of building No 3 at the secretariat.
Md Joseph Sardar and Ayesha Siddiqa, the stenographers/computer operators of the Purchase and Collection-2 Section, work in the room from where the files went missing.
Before leaving office on Wednesday, the two had kept the files in their cabinet. Around noon on Thursday, they discovered the files were missing when they went to bring out the folders from the cabinet.
Additional secretaries of the Administration and the Development unit and the personal secretary of the medical education division visited the spot immediately, according to the GD.
A team of the Crime Scene Unit of the Criminal Investigation Division of Police led by Kamruzzaman, special superintendent of police, visited the spot on the same day, according to ministry officials. They spoke to the officers and employees concerned.
Even after 48 hours of making the GD, neither the officials of the ministry nor the police could trace the persons involved.
The investigation could not begin in earnest because of the weekend, said Moudud Hawlader, the officer-in-charge of Shahbagh Police Station.
Police will visit the ministry today, he added.
Hossain could not be reached for comments despite repeated attempts at the time of filing the report.
