Naogaon: The government is taking various steps to expand healthcare services at district and upazila-level hospitals, said Health and Family Welfare Minister Sardar Md Sakhawat Husain. 'The process of recruiting around 9,500 new personnel, including 2,500 nurses and 2,500 pharmacists, has begun to take dialysis facilities to the grassroots, increase the number of beds and address the acute shortage of doctors,' he told reporters after making a surprise visit to the 250-bed Naogaon General Hospital today.
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, during the inspection, the health minister visited different wards, the operation theatre, pharmacy, and kitchen of the hospital and talked to patients. He noted a lack of accountability in the health sector over the past 17 years, which the current government has started addressing to restore discipline and accountability within just six months.
The minister highlighted plans to reduce dependence on Dhaka by enhancing dialysis services. He announced that 50 dialysis beds would be installed at every medical college hospital and 10 at each district-level hospital nationwide. The tender process for these machines is complete, with a target to launch district-level dialysis services within the next three months.
The 60 dialysis machines at the district level are expected to serve around 180 patients daily in three shifts. Furthermore, there are plans to establish 10 dialysis beds at each upazila-level hospital within the next two years. Sakhawat Husain also mentioned that every upazila hospital would feature a new nine-storey building equipped with modern ultrasound facilities and advanced pathology laboratories.
He revealed that a revised Development Project Proposal (DPP) to increase the number of beds at upazila hospitals from 50 to 151 is awaiting approval. The new 151-bed upazila hospitals would allocate 25 beds for maternity care and 20 special beds for children.
Addressing the long-standing challenge of manpower shortage, the minister assured that formalities for recruiting 5,000 new doctors would be completed soon. Viva examinations for recruiting more doctors through the Public Service Commission (PSC) are also underway.
Emphasizing accountability, Sakhawat called for preventing unauthorized activities and irregularities at private clinics and diagnostic centers. He warned of strict legal actions for non-compliance and mentioned the strengthening of mobile court drives nationwide in coordination with deputy commissioners and civil surgeons. He urged all stakeholders to play responsible roles in organizing and modernizing the health sector.
Naogaon Sadar constituency lawmaker and hospital management committee chairman Zahidul Islam Dhalu, Deputy Commissioner Saiful Islam, Superintendent of the 250-bed Naogaon General Hospital Dr. AM Akhtaruzzaman, and Civil Surgeon Dr. Md Aminul Islam were among those present.