One of the best ways to gauge a nation's health infrastructure is to go by how it caters to the needs of children, and Bangladesh falls incredibly short in that respect.
Case in point, when the recent cold wave hit our country -- particularly in the northern region – an inordinate amount of child patients littered hospitals due to cold-based health complications such as pneumonia. Due to the limited number of beds, far too many children were treated on hospital floors.
While a lack of capacity has been a long-battled issue for our health care facilities, it is nothing short of a shame that an incredibly sensitive group like children are having to be treated on floors.
To that end, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's recent call for the establishment of dedicated hospitals for children in every division of Bangladesh should be heeded.
It is truly unfortunate that a call for something this fundamental and obvious necessity needed to be made by the highest seat of our power. As the age-old adage goes, children are the future of any nation -- for a country such as Bangladesh, which harbours such lofty economic ambitions, it is of particular importance that we do all we can to make sure that our children grow up healthy.
Dedicated hospitals for children, much like dedicated spaces for play and recreation, are an absolute imperative to that end.
Going forward, our country must also continue to invest in our health sector holistically, which means having state of the art medical facilities at our medical institutions and giving our doctors and health practitioners the right kind of training to care for the patients. And it is imperative that we do so with sensitive groups, such as children, at the centre.
