A country cannot achieve real prosperity unless the quality of its healthcare improves, BNP acting secretary general Advocate Ruhul Kabir Rizvi has said.
He was speaking as chief guest at a discussion held at the Jatiya Press Club in the capital on Friday afternoon (September 25) to mark World Pharmacists Day 2026.
Rizvi said that raising economic growth, money or foreign exchange reserves alone is not enough to improve people’s living standards; building people’s capabilities and ensuring proper healthcare are also important measures of national prosperity.
Referring to electronic health cards, he said that if such an initiative can be implemented, ordinary people’s right to healthcare could be secured more effectively. An electronic health card could make it possible to guarantee a patient’s right to treatment and access to necessary medicines.
To make such a health system work, hospitals, clinics, pharmaceutical companies and all related sectors must be brought under integrated management, he said. Alongside doctors’ responsibilities, there must also be arrangements to ensure patients get the medicines they need.
Stressing the development of the pharmaceutical sector, Rizvi said drives against adulterated and substandard medicines are carried out from time to time. Alongside that, the country’s pharmaceutical industry must be made stronger and of higher quality through modern technology and better management.
Many people in vulnerable and poor communities cannot easily get good medical care, the BNP acting secretary general said. If initiatives such as electronic health cards are implemented effectively for them, it will create the opportunity to ensure the best possible healthcare.
National unity is important to achieve the goal of peace and prosperity that has been set, Rizvi said. Prosperity does not only mean people’s income or ability to buy food; a person’s ability to live healthily and get the healthcare they need is also an important part of it.
A country that cannot provide proper healthcare to its citizens cannot achieve complete social development, he said. The state and quality of healthcare must therefore be given weight in assessing the indicators of national prosperity.
Calling for professionals’ knowledge, skills, thinking, innovation and new ideas to be used to develop various sectors, Rizvi said there had been allegations in the past of plunder in various sectors through partisanship and capture. To improve these sectors in future, professionals’ thinking, innovation and skills must be put to use.
Everyone must play a responsible role from their own position for the country’s development and prosperity, he said. To make Bangladesh peaceful and prosperous, emphasis must be placed on building every important sector, including health, in a modern and effective way.
The discussion was chaired by Md Zakaria Hossain, convener of the Society of Bangladesh Pharmacists. Other speakers included BNP health affairs secretary Dr Rafiqul Islam, assistant finance affairs secretary Mahmudur Rahman Sumon, UGC member Dr Aslam Hossain, Rajshahi University pro-vice-chancellor Dr Mamunur Rashid, Noakhali Science and Technology University pro-vice-chancellor Dr Shafiqul Islam, Jahangirnagar University treasurer Dr Md Sohel Rana, dean of pharmacy at Dhaka University Professor Selim Reza and Professor Dr Md Shah Arman of the same faculty. The keynote paper was presented by Professor Dr Md Abdur Rashid, adviser to the Ziaur Rahman Foundation.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report