Health and Family Welfare Minister Sardar Md Sakhawat Husain on Saturday reimbursed a patient from his pocket after finding that the patient was asked to buy saline from outside despite the item being available in the stock of Naogaon General Hospital.
He made a surprise visit to the hospital around 10:30am and inspected different wards, the operating theatre, pharmacy and kitchen. He also spoke to patients during his hour-long inspection.
During the visit, the minister expressed dissatisfaction after learning that a nurse asked a patient to purchase saline from outside despite its availability in the hospital stock. He reimbursed the patient for the cost of the saline from his pocket and instructed the hospital authorities to investigate the matter.
After completing the inspection, the minister went to the office of the hospital superintendent and called doctors who were absent from duty on their mobile phones, seeking explanation for their absence.
Talking to journalists later, Sakhawat said he found irregularities during the inspection, including the failure to provide patients with saline available in the hospital stock. He said a doctor was also found absent from duty and the hospital authorities were warned over the irregularities.
“The government has taken various initiatives to ensure healthcare services for people at the grassroots level,” the minister said.
He said the government is also planning to install 50 dialysis beds at every medical college hospital and 10 beds at each district-level general hospital so that patients do not have to travel to Dhaka for tertiary-level dialysis treatment.
“At the district level, there will be 60 dialysis machines. We hope if each of the 60 machines can provide three rounds of dialysis a day, they will be able to serve 180 patients daily,” the minister said.
He added that facilities, including the number of beds, will soon be expanded at upazila health complexes across the country.
