The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is expected to grant $500 million loan for the procurement and distribution of Covid-19 vaccines under the Development Policy Loan (DPL) for the health sector, an official of the Health and Family Welfare Ministry said.
Under DPL an interest rate of the loan will be 0.6 per cent. There will be 30 years repay period while 10 year grace period.
DPL is a loan that will be disbursed when present policy actions linked indicators of countries are achieved.
The official of health ministry said JICA’s Covid-19 vaccine bankroll is part of Economic Relation Division’s initiative to bring $1.5 billion from aboard.
JICA wants to know the present coronavirus situation in Bangladesh for releasing the fund to be used for the vaccination of Bangladeshi citizens in the first phase, official said.
In the letter signed by the Director of South Asia Division 4 and South Asia Department of JICA Takahashi Akito, JICA wants to know the present condition of coronavirus pandemic in the country within November 26. The letter has been sent to the secretary of the Health Services Division Abdul Mannan under Ministry of Health.
Health Services Division said, “We hope to receive maximum financial support from development partners to procure vaccines from aboard.”
Health sector survey data of Bangladesh including coronavirus pandemic situation in the country will be explained to JICA.
According to the JICA letter, loan and grants for medical facilities or machinery under new loan facilities for the development of doctors and nurses in the country will be provided under DPL.
According to the health ministry, it would require funds worth nearly $500 million in the first phase to vaccinate 35 million people who are on the priority list. In the second phase, the country will need another funds worth $500 million to $1.0 billion for immunizing the remaining people of the country.
JICA wants to know the duties and responsibilities of the “Bangladesh Preparedness and Response Plan” (BPRP) on the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19). Besides, it also inquires about the outlines, objectives, planning scenarios, areas of work and priority activities required for the Bangladesh health sector to scale up its core capacities to prevent and quickly detect the spread of the coronavirus along with the role of the taskforce for Covid-19, according to JICA letter.
The convener of Jannaswashthya Sangram Parishad, Faiezul Hakim said the government will have to ensure Covid-19 vaccination for free of cost as it will receive bankroll from aboard at a low interest.
However, the ministry has planned to buy vaccine at high cost from aboard, he said.
He also said that the health ministry has not taken advice from real vaccine experts rather depend on the bureaucrats. The government has allocated Tk 10,000 crore block fund in this fiscal budget to control the spreading of deadly coronavirus infection.
The death tally from coronavirus in Bangladesh reached 6,416 and the total number of cases reached 4,49,760 on November 23.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare informed that some part of the Covid-19 vaccine purchase from next month .
Earlier, the Prime Minister said the government disbursed Tk 1,000 crore for purchasing vaccines on priority basis.
In last August, Japan confirmed the largest ever loan package of US$ 3.15 billion for Bangladesh to bankroll seven development projects in the country. The government has estimated that US$1.0 to 1.5 billion will be needed to procure Covid-19 vaccines with external funding.
The estimate by the Ministry of Finance (MoF) has been made considering the need for vaccinating 165 million people for free.
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