Anesthesia machines worth over Tk 1.5 crore are being purchased for some government hospitals and thana health complexes despite objection by a technical committee that the specified machines would not be safe for patients.

The Central Medical Stores Depot (CMSD) under the Directorate of Health Services is purchasing the 33 anesthesia machines with World Bank assistance under the government's Fourth Population and Health Project.

Sources said the CMSD has decided to purchase the machines, modelled Seneca-2000, from Pakistan, reportedly manufactured there under licence from Dragu, a German company.

The technical committee in its report had said that the machines were of "heterogeneous origin and assembled using dissimilar parts", the sources claimed.

The IC comprises experts from the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD), Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Midford Hospital and the IPGMR.

When contacted, a member of the technical committee said, "this machine may not be safe due to its heterogeneous origin". He questioned quality and safety of the machine.

Another member of the TC said, "it is an insult to the committee members. We are probably the best experts on the subject in the country. The government is ignoring our valuable recommendations."Another member of the TC when asked to give his opinion said, "The machines are not user-friendly as far as I can recall. My colleagues also gave similar views. Because the machines did not satisfy safety requirements we decided not to recommend purchase of as those machines because they would involve so many pieces."He further said, "Anesthesia machine is a vital equipment used in operation. We have to consider safety even if it costs a little more because if any machine fails to operate, the patient will die."However, the purchase committee decided to purchase the machines ignoring the recommendations of the TC, the sources said.

The CMSD in a letter dated issued on November 10 last year asked the procurement, disbursement and audit unit of the local office of the World Bank (WB) to release funds for purchase of the machines.

Director of the CMSD Brig Zahiruddin Ahmed was asked about the decision ignoring the TC's objection.

He said, "I can not tell you the things that are happening in CMSD."When pressed for further comments, he refused to talk to The Daily Star correspondent any more.

When contacted, WB Procurement Specialist Aminul Haq said, "We are not a party to any contract. As long as the government (CMSD) takes decision to buy any item good for the nation we will not give any objection. Besides, we have not received any complaint about the reliability of the machines. But if any genuine irregularity is detected we may ask the government to investigate the relevant issues."Meanwhile, in the face of alleged irregularities, the Parliamentary Committee on Public Estimates has taken up the matter.

Asked if the committee has detected any violation of rule in the matter, one of the members of the committee said, "Actually, we have not been able to sit with the members of the technical committee and the purchase committee and others but preliminary investigation shows that there are gross irregularities in the matter."When his attention was drawn to CMSD's decision to purchase the devices he said, "The government can not purchase the devices now because the issue has already been included in the agenda of the committee. Any change will be considered as violation."