GSK Sputnik Proposal: Health ministry has not worked much on it
The health ministry has not worked much on the Gonoshasthaya Kendra's proposal for buying 20 million Sputnik V vaccine doses from Russia, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen has said.
"Dr Zafrullah Chowdhury met me. We were very excited as he said he could bring vaccine from Russia in seven days at half the price. Naturally, we were very happy," Momen told reporters at his residence yesterday upon his return from Uzbekistan after a five-day visit.
He said he had a communication with Bangladesh Ambassador to Russia Kamrul Ahsan, who informed him that Russia did not appoint any private agent in Bangladesh as distributor of Sputnik V vaccine.
"Later, we heard that the person who got the agency [ship] is an American. He [Dr Zafrullah] will bring [vaccine] from the American. I don't know," Momen said.
The minister said many journalists, singers and intellectuals repeatedly proposed bringing vaccines from abroad at cheap rates if the government permitted.
"I don't know. It is the health ministry's issue and we refer them to the health ministry."
Earlier, Gonoshasthaya Kendra (GSK) said it asked the government to buy 20 million doses of Sputnik V vaccine from Russia and that the Gonoshasthaya Nagar Hospital has been appointed the vaccine manufacturer's sole distributor in Bangladesh.
Each dose will cost $8, according to a proposal submitted to Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen during a meeting on June 6. Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen and the Covid coordinator of the ministry were also present at the meeting, said GSK sources.
On June 9, GSK wrote to the minister informing him about getting the distributorship of Sputnik V. Getting no response, it sent another letter to the Prime Minister's Office on June 15. It also wrote to Prime Minister's Principal Secretary Ahmad Kaikaus on June 24, sources told The Daily Star.
Speaking to this newspaper, Zafrullah had said Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) appointed LLC MEBTEX as the distributor of Sputnik V vaccine and the latter appointed Gonoshasthaya Nagar Hospital the sole distributor in Bangladesh.
"We have attached relevant documents to our letters. We did not communicate with the Russian company for the partnership. They were the ones who approached us," said Zafrullah.
Asked why the Russian firm contacted GSK instead of the government, he said, "When RDIF wants to have a partnership with a country, they communicate with the country's government through a non-government agent. This is why they contacted GSK. But I do not know why they particularly contacted me."
About Gonoshasthya Kendra's proposal, DGHS DG Prof Khurshid Alam told The Daily Star on July 14, "I don't know about it. I don't have any information in this regard."
Bangladesh is in talks with Russia to buy Sputnik V vaccine and co-production of it. However, an agreement is yet to be signed in this regard.
Foreign Minister Momen said the agreement is at the final stage.
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