Dhaka Bureau: Health and Family Welfare Minister Zahid Malek, MP, said, “There has been real development in the health sector during the current Awami League government. Earlier, the average life expectancy of people in the country was 60 years, and now it is 73 years. It didn’t just happen. 98 percent success rate in vaccination in the country, whereas earlier it was only 20 percent. Earlier, the infant mortality rate in the country was more than 150, and now it is only 23. Earlier, only 10% of people in the country used to use family planning; now it has increased to 73%. Earlier, the population growth rate was 3%, and now it is only 98%. 60 percent of the country’s poor people were born earlier. But now, due to proper measures, fewer than 25 percent of people are born with short stature. Earlier, there were no health institutes in the country; now Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has opened 22 institutes. There were only 8 medical colleges; now there are 37 medical colleges. All these have been made possible by the timely action taken by the present government.”
The Health Minister said this while attending the discussion meeting organized by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on the occasion of “World Health Day 2023” at the Osmani Memorial Auditorium in the capital this morning.
At the time of independence, there was no such thing as a health sector in the country. Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman first started working on the health sector of the country. He gave first-class status to doctors at BCPS, BMRC, and the Directorate of Family Planning at that time. Sheikh Hasina, the daughter of the father of the nation, came to power and established thousands of community clinics for the marginalized people of the country. But the BNP coalition government came to power and closed those clinics. But Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has again launched those community clinics. Now, crores of people are getting free health care from community clinics, including 32 types of medicines free of charge. Delivery services have also been started at community clinics. Now the people of the village are getting their primary health care at home.
Access to health care is a constitutional right of the people of the country. Keeping that in mind, the health sector of the country has currently undertaken various activities, and the health minister said, “We have paid special attention to increasing the quality of maternity services for mothers. Out of the nearly 4,000 family welfare health care centers in the country, 24-hour service for pregnant mothers has been started in 500 health centers instead of 8 hours. In a very short time, we will introduce a 24-hour service program in all hospitals in the country”.
Regarding the provision of institutional practice, the health minister said that in 12 districts and 39 upazilas of the country, post-hospital health care programs have been launched through nominal ‘fees’. Very soon, this service will be introduced in all hospitals across the country. Stating that the C-section service is excessive in private medicine, the health minister said that C-sections are currently around 80% in private medicine, which is a matter of concern. According to the World Health Organization, only 15% of c-sections occur. We have to think about why so much is happening in private medicine.
Stating that the Health Protection Act is at its final stage, the Health Minister said that the Act is being formulated for the safety of health workers, nurses, patients, and doctors in hospitals. The work is in its final stages. The law will only take effect if it is passed by the next parliament.
It should be noted that the theme of this year’s World Health Day is ‘Health for All, which means “Health for All” in Bengali.
Secretary of the Health Care Department. Md. Anwar Hossain Hawladar, Secretary of Health Education and Family Welfare Department, Md. Azizur Rahman, Director General of the Health Department, Professor Dr. Abul Bashar Mohammad Khurshid Alam, Director General of the Family Planning Department, Sahan Ara Banu, President of the Bangladesh Medical Association, Dr. Mustafa Jalal Mohiuddin, President of the Swabandhu Prakashkar Parishad, Dr. Md. Jamal Uddin Chowdhury, Bangladesh representative to the World Health Organization, Dr. Bardan Jung Rana,
