Coronavirus: Govt forms 17-member nat’l technical advisory committee

The government today formed a 17-member national technical advisory committee in a bid to tackle the outbreak of coronavirus in the country.

The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare issued a notification in this regard today.

Prof Dr Mohammad Shahidullah, senior child specialist and president of Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council, will lead the committee, while Prof Dr Meerjady Sabrina Flora, director of Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), has been appointed as member-secretary of the committee.

The other members of the committee are: Prof Dr Nazrul Islam, former VC of BSMMU; Prof Dr AK Azad Khan, president of Bangladesh Diabetic Society; Prof Dr Shahla Khatun, senior specialist of gynae and obstetrics; Prof Dr Mahmud Hasan, former VC of BSMMU; Dr Mostofa Jalal Mohiuddin, president of Bangladesh Medical Association; Prof Dr Pran Gopal Dutta, ENT specialist and former VC of BSMMU; Prof Dr Iqbal Arsalan, president of Swadhinota Chikitshak Parishad; Prof Dr Rowshan Ara Begum, senior specialist of gynae and obstetrics; Dr Shams El Arifeen, senior director of Maternal and Child Health Research at icddr,b; Prof Dr Khalilur Rahman, senior anesthesiologist; Prof Dr Tarikul Islam, senior medicine specialist; Prof Dr Humayun Sattar, former chairman of Microbiology and Immunology department at BSMMU; Prof Dr Golam Mostofa, former head of Pathology department at National Cancer Research Institute and Hospital; Prof Dr Mahmudur Rahman, former director of IEDCR; and Prof Dr Md Abdul Mohit, former director of National Mental Health Institute and Hospital.

The committee will advise the government on tackling the spread of Covid-19 and on improving the quality of medical services at the hospitals, according to the notification.

They would also advise on necessary steps to enhance the skills of health professionals who are delivering medical services, it added.