The overall condition of Ad-Din Hospital will be inspected again before the administrative action taken against the institution is reconsidered, Health and Family Welfare Minister Sardar Md Sakhawat Hossain has said. “If the situation is found satisfactory in the inspection, the government will then take the next decision,” he said.
He made the remarks on Monday (July 13) in response to journalists’ questions at a press conference on health services in flood-hit areas, held in the conference room of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare at the secretariat.
Asked whether the government was stepping back from the decision to cancel Ad-Din Hospital’s license, the minister said: “If the government had not acted quickly over the deaths of six children, it would have faced huge criticism. So the necessary steps were taken against the hospital immediately after the incident.” He said various infrastructural defects, including in the hospital’s ICU, had been identified and orders given for their swift repair. The hospital authorities had said the necessary repair work had already been completed or was under way, he added.
The minister said the hospital authorities had applied for a fresh inspection, claiming the defects had been corrected. Officials concerned in the health ministry would assess the situation on the ground, he said, and if everything was found satisfactory in the inspection, the government would decide on the next course of action.
On the affected families, he said: “I have learned that the hospital authorities have given financial help to the affected families. But the case filed over the incident is currently under trial, and a decision on this will be taken by the court and according to the law.” The minister added that the health ministry had not yet given the hospital any final concession, and that a final decision would be taken only after the re-inspection report was received.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report