Prime Minister Tarique Rahman told parliament that during the past decade and a half of autocratic rule the country’s health sector was destroyed by design, to force people to go to one particular country for treatment. He also announced the government’s plan to build six dedicated 100-bed hospitals in six main industrial areas to ensure proper treatment for the country’s working people.
The prime minister said this on Monday while taking part in question time in the Jatiya Sangsad.
“Over more than a decade of the autocracy’s oppressive rule, we saw how the country’s energy sector was made dependent on foreign countries,” the prime minister said. “Instead of using the country’s mineral resources in the people’s interest, everything was made dependent on imports. Even the normal growth of domestic industry was blocked through deliberate policies.”
Describing the destruction of the health sector in the same vein, he said the health system was ruined bit by bit under the autocracy. Whatever structure of rural health care had been built under democratic governments in the past was destroyed during the autocratic period. The sector was destroyed in such a way that the people of this country would be forced to go to one particular country for treatment, he said. He noted that the leader of the opposition had also voiced concern in parliament about the health system some days ago.
The prime minister said the present government, elected by the people’s vote, is working for the welfare of people of every class and profession, and set out a new plan for workers’ health care.
He told parliament that, for better treatment of the country’s working people, the government has taken an initiative to build, in its first phase, six specialised 100-bed hospitals in the six main industrial areas.
Naming the industrial areas, the prime minister said the hospitals will first be built in Tongi, Ashulia, Kaliakair, Narayanganj, Savar and Chattogram. These hospitals will be dedicated only to treating workers, and their facilities and names will reflect that.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report