Dhaka Bureau: Health Minister Zahid Malek has fixed separate fees for dengue tests in public and private hospitals. Dengue test will be taken at 100 taka in government hospitals and 300 taka in private hospitals.
After a meeting at the meeting room of the National Mental Health Institute and Hospital on Sunday afternoon, he announced the new guidelines in response to questions from journalists.
The health minister said that it has been decided to fix the NS-1 antigen test for dengue patients at Tk 100 in government hospitals and Tk 300 in private hospitals. It will be running from now on.
Earlier, free dengue testing was introduced in 2019 when the dengue situation turned dire.
Zahid Malek said in the meeting titled ‘Review on mental health care at community level’, mental health care was backward but now it has come forward. The institute has also expanded. Mental health has also been added to the NCD corner. By doing this, the people of marginal areas will get counseling and treatment easily.
He also said that 18 percent of people in the country suffer from mental problems in one way or another, 12 percent of children. However, treatment is still behind. If we can’t spread it across the country then the treatment cannot be given as expected.
