Are govt websites citizen-centric?

All government offices including ministries, directorates, departments, divisions as well as district and upazila administration have their own websites. These websites are designed by the A2I at the Prime Minister's Office of the previous government and the Aspire to Innovation under the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology. The websites were designed for providing services to the people easily and ensuring their easy access to information stored by the government. How far the target has been achieved is a matter of rave review.

The structure of Bangladesh's websites comes first. The websites of every ministry and their related offices are almost same. We may consider the case of the website for the emergency service providing health ministry. The header of the website contains the name of the ministry and a slide show presenting images of important activities. The menu bar consists of information, namely Ours, Departments, Development partners, Publication, Communication and Comments. The names and images of the Minister, the Special Assistant and the Secretary are shown at the top, right corner of the website. The menu bar has their respective sub menus. The segment called 'Ours' has History and Activities, Mission and Vision, Honorable Adviser's Office, List of Ex Ministers/State Ministers, Secretary, List of Ex Secretaries, Organogram, Allocation of Business, Success and Achievement, etc. Every menu has their sub-menus like this. News and Notice Board are kept under these sub-menus which contain different news and notices.

There are many box menus under the menu bar. Mission and Vision, Organizing Structure, Officers, Citizen Charter are there in the box relating to Ours. There are sixteen boxes like this, namely Notice/Order/Circular, Guidelines and Publication, Citizen e-services, Citizen Charter, Annual Performance Agreement, National Integrity Strategy, Grievance Redress Management, Right to Information, Smart Bangladesh, Innovative Activities, Easing of service, Budget/Annual Report, SDG and Development Planning, Forms, Publication, Guidelines on how to contact the Directorate/Department, etc. Every box contains 3/4 items inside it. Central e-service portal link, some hotline numbers, internal e-services, important links, public servant management system, social communication and innovation corner are kept in the right, middle of the page. The Google map of Bangladesh Secretariat is seen at the end of the page.

Most of the boxes and items are not related with the service to the people. Only 3/4 boxes/items are related with it, namely Citizen Charter, Easing of Service, Internal e-service and Grievance Redress Management. The Citizen Charter's first item is service providing commitment. Its vision is to ensure affordable and standardized medical service to all. Its mission is to create a sound and healthy population by developing the health, nutrition and population sector through ensuring easy access to standardized medical service. There are 16 commitments to service in the menu. Only one item of it is: direct service to people. It is related to free medical services to freedom fighters and distressed patients. How and where this service is available is not mentioned there. Is it available countrywide or not? Nothing is said there about this. It is found that the vision and mission of Citizen Charter are not focused in the Action Plan.

Another item is related to giving permission to foreign doctors coming to Bangladesh and giving approval of hospitals/clinics constructed by Statutory/Autonomous/Joint Entrepreneurs. All other items are related to the administrative or service beneficiary issues of the officers of the ministry or subordinated offices. Which hospital is designated for which diseases, how many beds and ICUs are vacant, which one is a specialized hospital for which complex diseases, what's the ambulance facilities for seriously ill patients, what are the opportunities for poor and distressed patients- these are all missing. Nothing is mentioned about these issues at all on the website of the ministry of health or the directorate of health.

This website does not have any option of getting reply from authorities regarding any query by service-seeking people. Though there is an option of grievance redress, it is found not that much reliable by the people. The time limit for addressing a complaint is up to three months, contact address is e-mail and the land phone is there. How many people have the opportunity of getting response through e-mail? Is land phone call received by anyone at government offices these days? Will anyone on the deathbed wait three months for a response about his complaint? There is an option for filing an appeal against the decision of an officer addressing a complaint within one month. There is no mobile number of the grievance redress officers there even in this digital age. How much service people will get from this can be easily guessed.

The website is full of issues. It contains the issues like Promotion of Officers and Staff, Transfer, Advertisement, Notice, Order, Circular, Act and Rules, Annual Performance Agreement, National Integrity Strategy, Right to Information, Budget/Annual Report, Innovative Activities, SDG, Publication, etc. These issues do not include any option for obtaining benefit by the people seeking health services.

Now let us review the website of the ministry of health of a developed country like Singapore. The website's top menu bar contains headings like Staying healthy, Seeking healthcare, Ageing well, Managing expenses and Resources. 'Healthy living' under the menu 'Staying healthy' says how you can adopt a healthier lifestyle. 'Seeking healthcare' describes Getting Medical Help, Overview of diseases and how to find a medical facility. Ageing contains Ageing in the community, Care services, Caregiving, Palliative care, Advance care planning. 'Managing expenses' has Schemes and subsidies, Keeping healthcare affordable, Hospital bills and fee benchmarks, Financial scheme governance and Bill presentation for public healthcare institutions. Resources describes Online services for institutions and the public, Public consultations, For healthcare professionals, etc.

The website of ministry of health of Singapore is full of health services directly linked with the people seeking health services and better living. There is no other issue mentioned on the website. Nothing about minister, secretary, officers, budget, act, rules, annual report, etc. is included here. It could be assumed from this website that the most important issue of the health ministry is to provide health services to people and it should be mentioned clearly so that people could get services easily.

So, the website of the ministry of health in Bangladesh should highlight the process of seeking health services, information about doctors, hospitals, ambulances, beds, ICUs, costing, financial benefits, etc. so that people could get health services affordably, easily and comfortably. This would be the prime issues on the website of the ministry of health, not other bureaucratic issues. Not only this ministry, but also other ministries should design their website according to the requirements of the people, especially the types of services.

The ministries, directorates, departments and different other offices in Bangladesh should redesign their websites including the items related to easy access to services and excluding the unnecessary large structures of the existing websites. Every ministry, directorate or office has their own service pattern. So, website designs should match their respective service patterns. It should not be planned in the same pattern as the existing ones in Bangladesh. It must be changed. Websites should be designed under new planning in consultation with the grassroots-level service seekers, service staffs, officers, people's representatives, policy makers, NGOs and other stakeholders for the sake of effective, affordable and satisfactory services made available to the people. The following issues may be considered as preferences-

# The prime issues of the website will be how, when and where the service seekers will get the hassle-free easy and satisfactory services;

# The photos of minister, adviser, secretary, director general or office heads will not be uploaded on the website;

# Arrangement for any reply to queries of service seekers through mobile phone or hotline will be included;

# The name, designation, mobile number, e-mail address of the service-providing officers and staff along with their controlling officer's contact number should be provided;

# The ways, process and time limit for addressing job-related issues like increment, pay scale, ACR, transfer, deputation, promotion, etc. might also be included;

# The progress reports (monthly/annual) of the ministry, directorate, department, office, project might be mentioned;

# Grievance Redress System must be included for effective implementation. The complaint resolution report should be published here.

"A government of the people, by the people, for the people" is an ideal government, according to ex-US president Abraham Linkon. People wield the sovereign power of the state according to our Constitution. The government should focus on the actual and satisfactory services for the people by initiating new designs of all government websites and its effective implementation.

Krishna Kanta Biswas is retired Additional Secretary and former Additional Project Director for Metro Rail Project MRT Line-6.

kkbsnb81@gmail.com