Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Sunday said that some 700,000 bags of saline will be imported to address the shortage caused by the rising dengue cases in the country.
He made the remarks at the handover ceremony of Bangladesh-Korea Friendship Hospital at Ashulia in Savar on Sunday afternoon.
The minister currently said: "We are working diligently to ensure that patients can easily access beds, medications, and saline in hospitals.”
“We have noticed a shortage of saline in the market outside, but government hospitals have an adequate supply. Nonetheless, we have directed the government to swiftly import 700,000 saline to address this issue. This initiative has already been successfully completed in a short time and saline will be readily available in markets soon,” said Zahid Maleque.
“We are also progressing with local saline production," he further added.
The minister added: "We have said it repeatedly that as long as there are mosquitoes, there will be dengue patients because mosquitoes transmit the disease. So, we need to eliminate mosquitoes first. Killing mosquitoes will decrease the number of patients and save lives. We are not only treating patients but also spreading awareness through TV and newspaper ads, as well as using microphones. We are also collaborating with city corporations to tackle this issue."
Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Saturday said some 350,000 bags of saline from India will arrive in Bangladesh within two days. “There is no shortage of saline in public and private hospitals. But some say there is some shortage of saline in the market,” he added.
The health minister also inaugurated the eye care unit and fire fighting system at Bangladesh-Korea Friendship Hospital.
Korean Ambassador to Bangladesh Park Young-sik was present as the guest of honour.
In 2014, Bangladesh and South Korea jointly started the blindness prevention project. The South Korean government donated $9.4 million to the project, and the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA)) implemented it.
This project has made progress in eliminating unnecessary blindness in the country and providing modernistic medical procedures.
