Govt aims to set up medical varsity in each district: PM

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday asked the private medical colleges to pay special attention to standard of education and curriculum to create quality doctors.“Private sector is coming forward to establish medical colleges. But I think the authorities concerned should pay more attention to maintaining standard of education and curriculum properly in these colleges,” Prime Minister Hasina said, while inaugurating a two-day international conference on critical care medicine in Dhaka yesterday.She said that the government has given utmost importance to the development of the healthcare facilities and will do everything whatever needed for this purpose.“We want to make the healthcare facilities available at the doorsteps of people, even in the rural areas,” she said.She mentioned that the government in its previous 1996-2001 tenure introduced the community clinics, aiming to provide healthcare services in the rural areas.Hasina said healthcare service is a great and noble profession and the physicians will have to render services to their patients with sincerity and dedication.Putting emphasis on receiving training, she mentioned that the government wants Bangladesh’s doctors and nurses to be trained in foreign countries.She assured that more steps would be taken to provide improved foreign training to physicians and nurses.She also directed the authorities concerned to impose restrictions on the entry of huge number of visitors to hospitals, particularly to ICU, saying a patient in the sensitive zone might face serious harm due to infections caused by the visitors.Hasina praised the doctors and nurses working at the ICU with high risks and said they do the noble job like bringing patients with critical condition back to normal life.About the steps of the government for further improving healthcare services, Hasina said Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) was established as the country’s first medical university, while three more medical universities are being set up - one at Chittagong, one at Rajshahi and another at Sylhet.“We will establish medical university in all divisional headquarters,” she said. The prime minister said many physicians are now getting opportunities to utilise their skills and efficiency after completing postgraduate degrees on critical care medicine from BSMMU, DMC and Birdem. Pointing to Bangladesh’s graduation to a developing country from the LDC group, the prime minister said Bangladesh got the recognition of the UN after long 46 years of independence.It has been possible because of the government’s success in implementation of MDGs, attaining capability in healthcare and education, achieving high GDP growth and per capita income, she said.Hasina stressed maintaining continuation of the success saying Bangladesh would never be dependent on others and would go ahead keeping pace with the world.