Bangladesh will recruit 100,000 health workers to take medical care to people’s doorsteps, of whom 80,000 will be women, said Health and Family Welfare Minister Sardar Md. Sakhawat Hossain. He said the prime minister had taken this major initiative out of a desire to bring revolutionary change to the health sector.
He made the remarks as chief guest at an event held on Sunday afternoon (June 14) at Narayanganj General (Victoria) Hospital. The event also marked the simultaneous inauguration of intensive care units (ICUs) in 10 districts across the country, including Narayanganj.
Outlining several mega-plans for modernising the country’s health sector, the minister said: “From now on, modern machines will be taken to every home to deliver health care. Alongside this, two specialised hospitals of 1,500 beds each will be built solely for women’s treatment across Bangladesh. These two hospitals will have units for kidney dialysis, breast cancer and urinary cancer, disability and advanced delivery.” He added that 20 new hospitals of 1,000 beds each would also be built nationwide. To quickly transfer critical patients to central hospitals, these hospitals would be equipped with five state-of-the-art ambulances each and four helicopters.
Criticising the previous government, the health minister said: “We took charge amid a devastated political and health situation. The previous autocratic and incompetent caretaker government did not leave an adequate stock for the country’s vaccination programme. There was an acute crisis of vitamin tablets and rabies vaccine. But under the able leadership of our leader and guide Tarique Rahman, we moved forward with courage instead of fear and managed to procure measles vaccines and other medicines in sufficient quantities.” On the budget, the minister said: “In this budget, our leader Tarique Rahman has not just presented the financial accounts but given direction on how to develop the country and take health services to the people’s doorsteps. With that aim, Tk 69,409 crore has been allocated to the health sector in this budget.”
The event, chaired by the Secretary of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Md. Kamruzzaman Chowdhury, was also attended by the lawmaker for Narayanganj-5 Advocate Abul Kalam, Narayanganj City Corporation administrator Advocate Sakhawat Hossain Khan, district council administrator Professor Mamun Mahmud, Narayanganj Development Authority chairman Mashukul Islam Rajib, and Director General of the Directorate General of Health Services Professor Dr. Probhat Chandra Biswas, along with other senior officials of the administration.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report