The Health and Family Welfare Ministry has assigned 54 officials to inspect and monitor hospitals across the country to improve the quality of healthcare services, maintain administrative discipline and ensure better public service.
An office order issued by the Administration-1 branch of the Health Services Division on September 30 assigned the officials to inspect medical colleges, specialised, general, district and upazila-level hospitals across the country.
According to the order, additional secretaries, joint secretaries and deputy secretaries have been assigned to monitor specific hospitals as well as hospitals across different districts and divisions. Some officials have also been given additional responsibility for hospitals in other districts.
The officials have been instructed to coordinate with hospital authorities and take necessary measures to improve healthcare services, including monitoring manpower, cleanliness, medical equipment, infrastructure, security and overall management at hospitals under their jurisdiction.
They will also regularly monitor the digital attendance of doctors and healthcare workers and submit attendance-related information and reports to the relevant authorities.
The officials have been asked to coordinate with deputy commissioners, civil surgeons, upazila nirbahi officers and upazila health and family welfare officers to monitor the progress of vaccination programmes, infectious disease prevention and public awareness activities.
The order also directs them to participate in and provide necessary support for public health initiatives, including maternal and child healthcare, elderly healthcare and nutrition programmes.
They have also been instructed to encourage healthcare institutions to undertake innovative and effective initiatives to improve service quality and provide necessary support for their implementation.
Regular inspections
The officials must regularly visit districts, upazilas and hospitals under their jurisdiction. During inspections, they are required to discuss identified problems, observations and recommendations with relevant authorities and take necessary steps to implement feasible recommendations.
Based on observations and recommendations from each inspection, the officials must prepare reports and submit them to the designated branch by the 7th of every month.
Each official is required to conduct at least one inspection every month.
According to the list attached to the office order, additional secretaries from various branches, including administration, development, global health, hospitals, public health, finance and audit, budget and nursing, have been assigned to monitor major national hospitals and hospitals in different divisions.
Among the institutions assigned to specific monitoring officials are Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Mymensingh Medical College Hospital, Sir Salimullah Medical College and Mitford Hospital, Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital, National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, National Institute of Cancer Research and Hospital, National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery, National Institute of Mental Health and National Institute of Ophthalmology and Hospital.
Joint secretaries and deputy secretaries have been assigned to monitor hospitals in different districts. Their responsibilities include monitoring district-level hospitals as well as, in many cases, upazila-level facilities.
The officials have been instructed to coordinate with the district administration, health authorities and hospital authorities while carrying out their duties.
The initiative aims to identify existing problems at hospitals through regular inspections, take steps to address them and monitor the progress of healthcare services.
The order said the assigned responsibilities would be additional to the officials’ regular duties and would take effect from the date of issuance.
The initiative is expected to enable the ministry to obtain regular information on the ground realities of healthcare services, staff attendance, use of medical equipment, infrastructure problems and management gaps through direct inspections by central-level officials. It could also facilitate quicker action based on inspection reports.
