The mismanagement that has built up in the healthcare sector over 17 years cannot be removed within a month or two, Health and Family Welfare Minister Sardar Md Sakhawat Hossain has said. He made the remarks while speaking to reporters after visiting the Bhagutia village home of Oshanto Mondal, husband of the late Konika Mondal, in Baharpur union, Baliakandi upazila, Rajbari, around 9:30am on Friday (August 21), where he met family members and expressed his condolences.
The health minister said an allegation had surfaced that, after a caesarean operation in Faridpur, surgical gauze was left inside a new mother’s abdomen before she was stitched up. She died roughly 51 days after the operation. “The government is deeply pained by such an incident,” he said. “After learning of this, I rushed from Dhaka to Rajbari. A five-member investigation committee has been formed, headed by Rajbari’s civil surgeon, and they have been asked to submit their investigation report within five working days. Once we receive the report, strict action will be taken against those found responsible.”
Also present were Rajbari district commissioner Afroza Parveen, Rajbari civil surgeon Dr SM Masud, Rajbari superintendent of police Md Samsul Haque, and Baliakandi upazila executive officer Chowdhury Mustafizur Rahman, among others.