Political awareness and ideological positions are natural in a democratic state, but professional duty must not be neglected for the sake of politics, Prime Minister Tareque Rahman has said.
He made the remarks on Saturday (8 August) at the 37th founding-anniversary gathering of the Doctors Association of Bangladesh (DAB) at the LD Hall of the national parliament.
The prime minister said political decisions affect almost every sphere of society, so teachers, students and professionals could remain politically aware and organised according to their own ideologies. There was nothing abnormal in that.
But everyone must be careful that political activism does not become an obstacle to performing professional duties. Performing one’s professional duty is more important than political practice, he said.
100,000 health workers to be recruited
The government has taken an initiative to recruit 100,000 health workers to bring healthcare to people’s doorsteps, the prime minister said.
He said work to launch e-health cards would begin as soon as possible, and that a plan had been taken to upgrade upazila hospitals to 101 beds.
‘We inherited a ruins-like situation’
On doctors’ various demands, Tareque Rahman said the current government had inherited an almost ruins-like situation after taking charge.
The government had inherited a difficult situation overall — “a weak economy, a divided administration and fragile education and health systems”, he said.
The prime minister said the government was working to turn the country around from that state. This needed time, and every sector had to be rebuilt gradually.
Power and gas crisis acknowledged
The prime minister also said the government was not denying people’s suffering over power and gas.
People were currently suffering over power and gas and the government knew it, he said. But because it had inherited an overall fragile system, the government was having to face various challenges in solving these problems.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report