Health and Family Welfare Minister Sardar Md Sakhawat Hossain has said the government will bring sweeping changes to the country’s health sector within the next two years to ensure that no patient needs to travel to India for treatment.
“We want our patients to return home for treatment instead of going abroad,” he said while speaking at the inauguration of a primary healthcare programme in Kasba upazila of Brahmanbaria on Wednesday.
The programme, jointly organised by Rahman Development Foundation and Shakti Foundation, aims to ensure primary healthcare services for residents of Kasba and Akhaura upazilas.
The minister alleged that widespread corruption crippled the health sector under the previous regime, with large sums embezzled through procurement and tender manipulation. Many medical equipment purchased at high costs remain unusable due to a lack of manpower, he said.
He said the government, under Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, had adopted a zero-tolerance policy towards corruption and was taking steps to improve healthcare services nationwide.
The government plans to upgrade every upazila health complex to 151 beds, establish modern pathology facilities and introduce kidney dialysis services within two years. Each facility will also have 20 beds for mothers and 20 for children, he said.
The minister said tenders worth Tk16,000 crore for healthcare infrastructure, including upazila and union-level facilities and family welfare centres, would be floated within 15 days, with construction expected to be completed within two years.
He added that the government planned to recruit 41,391 healthcare workers this year, including nurses and midwives, and introduce robotic surgery at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
The minister also warned private clinics operating near government hospitals against irregularities, saying no new clinic would be permitted within one kilometre of a government hospital. Existing facilities would face action if found violating regulations.
He announced that the shortage of doctors in Kasba and Akhaura would be addressed within a week, warning that absent physicians could lose their jobs.
