State Minister for Health and Family Welfare MA Muhith said all children with special needs in villages and cities will be brought under government healthcare, for which a special project has been formulated.
He said the Directorate General of Health Services has prepared and designed a major project to extend healthcare services to special children at the upazila level.
In the new national budget to be passed on 30 June, specific and special allocations have been kept for the physically challenged population.
He was speaking as chief guest at the formal inauguration of the services of the “CSF Centre” in Dhaka’s Korail slum on Saturday morning.
The centre began its journey with the theme “Disability identification, rehabilitation and inclusive healthcare for the development of every child’s potential.”
The state minister said true progress means ensuring humane development and equal rights for every disadvantaged person in society.
He added that the government is bringing fundamental changes in its policy, budget, and management to guarantee equal rights for every disabled citizen alongside all other citizens.
He said, “We often think development means having a lot of money or constructing big buildings. But buildings alone cannot bring real social development or humane progress.
If we want to be developed as human beings, we must show compassion to those with minor difficulties or disabilities in society. Otherwise, only brick‑and‑mortar development will occur, not genuine social transformation.”
Describing the government as a highly “humane government,” the state minister said children born with various illnesses must not be lost in neglect.
Instead, they should be integrated into the mainstream of society to pursue education, employment, and normal life. For this, the state is bringing permanent changes to its structure.
On reaching healthcare to the marginalised, he said the DGHS has already completed work on an integrated project whose main goal is to ensure that every special child scattered across cities, towns, and remote villages comes directly under government healthcare. Through this project, special programmes will be implemented in every upazila.
H also said equal rights for the children with special needs are being ensured not only in healthcare but also in education.
The Ministry of Education has taken long‑term initiatives so that children with special needs can study with equal dignity in general educational institutions at district and upazila levels.
Teachers are being given advanced training, and schools are being adapted with infrastructure and environments suitable for special children, he informed.
