State Minister for Health Dr MA Muhit has said ensuring the safety of both doctors and patients is one of the government’s top priorities.
“The government is highly concerned about and committed to ensuring the safety of doctors as well as patients seeking healthcare services, and a number of effective measures have already been taken in this regard,” he said.
The Health State Minister made the remarks as the chief guest at the joining and orientation programme for newly appointed doctors of the 48th (Special) BCS (Health) Cadre, organised by the Health Services Division today at Shaheed Abu Sayeed International Convention Centre in the capital’s Shahbagh.
Highlighting the government’s recent decision to ensure workplace security for doctors, Dr Muhit said that, as an immediate measure to protect them, an “historic and major decision” had been taken to deploy 5,000 Ansar members at upazila health complexes across the country.
He also said that, alongside strengthening security, emphasis must be placed on improving the overall environment of the health system.
Addressing the newly appointed young doctors, the state minister said, “As doctors, you will spread across different parts of the country with a great responsibility. While ensuring the protection of doctors and a proper working environment is essential, it is equally the government’s responsibility to protect the right of ordinary people seeking healthcare to receive safe and proper treatment. We are extremely concerned and conscious about both these aspects of safety.”
He said that improving the quality of healthcare, the overall hospital environment, and ensuring necessary medicines and facilities for patients would help ease public grievances and frustrations.
Dr Muhit further said, “It will be possible to eliminate undesirable situations by addressing the root causes of people’s grievances.”
Referring to reforms in the health sector and the electoral pledges, the state minister said, “Our election manifesto contains 20 specific commitments for building a Bangladesh of good health. Not a single one of them can be implemented without the active participation of doctors.”
He also stressed the need to develop a mindset of working in coordination with other upazila administration officials at the grassroots level by overcoming the distance among them.
Outlining the future roadmap for the health system, he advised the doctors to become technology-friendly and research-oriented, saying that the government is working to build a modern “Digital Health” system.
Director General of the Directorate General of Health Services Prof Dr Prabhat Chandra Biswas, Health Services Division Secretary Dr A N M Bazlur Rashid and Director General of the Directorate General of Medical Education Prof Dr Md Nazmul Hossain, among others, spoke at the programme.
