State Minister for Health and Family Welfare Dr M A Muhit on Thursday said that a plan has been taken to engage local college students as “health volunteers” at every upazila health complex to reduce the sufferings of rural patients at public hospitals and curb the activities of brokers.
"Rural patients often fall prey to brokers because they do not know where to go when they arrive at hospitals. To address the problem, a plan has been taken to engage 10 college students from areas surrounding each upazila health complex, comprising five male and five female students, as volunteers one day a week in exchange for daily honorariums," he said.
The volunteers would guide patients through the entire process, from obtaining tickets to reaching doctors and diagnostic laboratories, while helping develop a sense of ownership of the hospitals, the state minister added.
He made the remarks while addressing a workshop on “District Health Planning” as the chief guest at the Circuit House, said a press release.
The workshop was jointly organized by the Sirajganj district administration and the Health Services Division.
At the event, Dr Muhit directed 11 government healthcare institutions in Sirajganj to submit three-month work plans within seven days to develop the district as a model in healthcare services.
Announcing that a year-long special family planning campaign will begin across the country on December 1, he said that the field workers would start work from the very first day with adequate family planning supplies.
The state minister also said that Sirajganj would be among the five to six districts where the 'e-Health Card' would initially be piloted.
He further announced to make Sirajganj the country's first cataract-free district within the next two years.
Dr Muhit said that without waiting for large-scale projects, healthcare institutions must use their existing limited resources to ensure clean hospitals, a broker-free environment and free access to at least 50% of medicines and diagnostic tests within the next three months.
He also proposed forming a “District Health Forum” involving civil society members, journalists and service recipients to resolve misunderstandings with the public.
The state minister also mentioned that research on local health issues would be conducted by the National Institute of Preventive and Social Medicine (NIPSOM) researchers.
Noting that the responsibility for providing healthcare to around 3.5 million people in Sirajganj rests with the health officials present, he directed nine upazila health complexes, the district hospital and the medical college to submit 90-day work plans within the next seven days, specifying targets for the first, second and third months.
Speaking at the event, Health Services Division Secretary Dr ANM Bazlur Rashid said a policy decision could be taken to provide field-level officials with special operational funds ranging from Tk 10 lakh to Tk 50 lakh on a pilot basis to empower them financially.
He also said that once the recruitment of 5,000 new personnel is completed by next February, all vacant posts in Sirajganj would be filled to develop the district as a 'lighthouse' or model district.