Serve people of the villages: Bangabandhu

October 28, 1972        

BANGABANDHU CALLS UPON DOCTORS TO GO TO RURAL AREAS

Prime Minister Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman says today that he wants qualified doctors to go to rural areas so that the people living in villages receive the benefits of modern treatment. Talking to a delegation of Salimullah Medical College students at the Gono Bhaban, he says it is unfortunate that the doctors after receiving higher education abroad at the expense of the people take up jobs in foreign countries, totally forgetting their responsibilities towards their brethren at home.

He says this is one of the reasons that prompted his government to impose restrictions on going abroad for higher education. The prime minister says the Institute of Post-Graduate Medicine would be upgraded and fully equipped with all necessary equipment to enable it to impart the best possible medical education at home. This would preclude the need for doctors to go abroad. But he adds that this policy would not come in the way of people going for specialised research.

FAO WILL EVALUATE CROPS IN BANGLADESH

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has formed a special agricultural group to evaluate future foodgrain crops in Bangladesh. The purpose of the special group will be to evaluate future harvest in Bangladesh, particularly the Aman crop, which accounts for approximately 60 percent of total domestic production, as this will help estimate the import requirement for 1973.

JACKSON REPORTS BANGALEES' CONDITION TO WALDHEIM

Sir Robert Jackson, chief coordinator of the UN Relief Operation yesterday reported to Secretary General Kurt Waldheim about the condition of stranded Bangalees in Pakistan. Sir Robert Jackson met Pakistan President Bhutto in Rawalpindi on October 26 and had talks with him on a number of issues including humanitarian problems. Jackson's meeting with Bhutto came in the wake of Bangabandhu's letter to the UN secretary general requesting him to use his good offices for the repatriation of stranded Bangalees, many of whom are passing their days in great agony in concentration camps in Pakistan.

SOURCES: October 29, 1972 issues of Bangladesh Observer, Dainik Bangla and Dainik Ittefaq.