Health and Family Welfare Minister Sardar Md Sakhawat Husain has said the government’s major success will depend on the health sector, as it is giving the sector the highest priority.
“The government is giving the highest importance to the health sector,” he said, adding that allocations are being increased for hospitals that receive a large number of patients from across the country.
The minister was speaking as the chief guest at a discussion organised on Monday at the National Institute of Diseases of the Chest and Hospital (NIDCH) in Mohakhali, Dhaka, marking the inauguration of its newly constructed Respiratory Critical Care and Interventional Pulmonology Centre.
Speaking about the expansion of kidney dialysis services, Sakhawat said the government plans to install 10 dialysis machines at every upazila-level facility across the country within the next two years.
He also said the government has taken various initiatives to enhance the skills of doctors.
Referring to NIDCH, the minister said the hospital was inaugurated in 2005 by then prime minister Khaleda Zia, but its intensive care services were expanded 21 years later.
The newly established ICU facility has added 40 beds, he said.
Golam Sarwar Liaquat Hossain Bhuiyan, director of NIDCH, chaired the programme.
Among others, Professor FM Siddiqui, vice-chancellor of Bangladesh Medical University; Professor Harun-or-Rashid, president of the Doctors Association of Bangladesh (DAB); Md Zahirul Islam Shakil, secretary general of DAB; and Prabhat Chandra Biswas, director general of the Directorate General of Health Services, attended the event.
