Secretary General of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and former lawmaker Professor Mia Golam Porwar has issued the following statement on 28 April 2020 urging the concerned authorities to resolve the complications which has been created centering the approval of the coronavirus testing kits.

“The number of coronavirus infected patients is increasing alarmingly. The health experts warned that that situation may deteriorate severely in the upcoming May month. There are some explicit limitations, complications and crisis with the coronavirus test. The entire medical treatment system of Bangladesh has come under severe crisis due to the ongoing pandemic. World Health Organization (WHO) has emphasized more maximum tests for resisting coronavirus. There are many countries in the world, who are conducting thousands of tests every day. In comparison to that, the number of tests in Bangladesh is significantly low. Even within those few number of tests, number of infected people are alarming.

Under such critical context, Gonoshasthaya Kendra has invested coronavirus testing kits. They are first institution in Bangladesh to invent such kits. After a long experiment of two months, finally they became able to invent it. Their initiative and efforts are really praiseworthy.

On last 25 April, Gonoshasthaya Kendra arranged a program to hand over testing kits to the government officially. But from the government’s side, no one attended the program. The government denied receiving those kits claiming that, Gonoshasthaya Kendra did not follow the directives of the WHO and the Bangladeshi government while preparing those kits. The questions and objections, raised from the government should be more acceptable and inclusive. Government was supposed to take decision about these kits by reviewing the standard, quality and existing norms and principles. But instead of doing so, the government got involved in a blame game with the Gonoshasthaya Kendra which is unfortunate.

We are urging the government to resolve the crisis centering the approval of the coronavirus testing kits, invented and prepared by Gonoshasthaya Kendra. Besides, we are calling upon them to take effective measures to improve the overall situation of coronavirus diagnosis and its treatment.