Prime Minister Tarique Rahman has said the government is giving the highest priority to research and innovation in developing modern technology in health care. The government will give all-out cooperation in the necessary testing, quality verification and production, he said.
The prime minister made the remarks at a meeting held at the prime minister’s office in the cabinet division at the Bangladesh Secretariat on Tuesday, 28 July, with the makers of ventilators and high-flow oxygen machines built with domestic technology. He also gave an assurance of every kind of cooperation needed to make these locally built medical devices usable and to bring them to market.
The meeting was told that two separate expert teams had built the ventilator and the high-flow oxygen machine. After the necessary approvals and clinical testing, they can be used in every hospital in the country and also exported to international markets. Because they are produced domestically, the two devices can be marketed at comparatively low cost, which will make the country’s health care more affordable.
Experts said the ventilator is used as life-saving equipment in treating patients with serious respiratory problems. More extensive testing will be carried out to ensure its safety, effectiveness and international standard. The high-flow oxygen machine, suitable for use in ordinary respiratory problems, has as one of its main features that it can be run without an electricity connection. It can therefore be used effectively in areas without electricity, or in an ambulance while carrying a patient in an emergency. Those involved believe that once successful production of these devices begins, dependence on foreign technology will fall considerably.
Among others present at the meeting were the minister for health and family welfare, Sardar Sakhawat Hossain; state minister Dr M A Muhith; the prime minister’s special assistant on health, Dr S M Ziauddin Haider; the health services division secretary, Md Kamruzzaman Chowdhury; the pro-vice-chancellor of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Dr Muhammad Shariful Islam; the prime minister’s office physician, Associate Professor Dr Shah Muhammad Aman Ullah; and the prime minister’s assistant private secretary-1, Dr Mamun Shibli, along with other senior officials.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report