Call to increase healthcare facilities
The World Health Day was observed in the country as elsewhere across the globe yesterday with a commitment to increasing health care facilities to provide utmost services for the disaster-hit people during emergency situations.
As ours is a disaster-prone country where flood, cyclone is almost usual circumstances, health facilities should be made available here and at the same time, health workforce should be trained to handle the patients in emergency situations successfully, speakers said at the inaugural function of the seven-day programme marking the World Health Day.
Health Minister Prof AFM Ruhul Haque inaugurated the programme at the Osmani Auditorium in the city. This year the slogan of the day is “Save lives: Make hospitals safe in emergencies.”
Focusing the day, the government has taken a week-long programme in all the health facilities of the country to ensure best services with the existing resources, he said, adding that it has also taken steps to digitise the health sector, including video conferencing for monitoring and service providing, internet connection at every upazila and district health complex and bulk SMS system.
With a view to developing the overall health services and providing patients with emergency services, the government is trying to make the community clinics functional for every 6,000 population and soon will grant additional ambulances to every upazila and district hospitals, he added.
World Health Organisation (WHO) Representative to Bangladesh Dr Duangvadee Sungkhobol, Director General of Disaster Management Bureau Farhad Uddin, Director General of Directorate of Family Planning Md Abdul Qayyum, DGHS Director General Shah Monir Hossain, Health Secretary Sheikh Altaf Ali, Additional Secretary Abul Kalam Azad and Joint Secretary Anwar Hossain Munshi also spoke.
“We need to ensure that health facilities and services are able to function in the aftermath of emergencies and disasters, protect the lives of patients, serve the affected population and keep health workers safe,” said Duangvadee Sungkhobol.
The theme of the World Health Day 2009 'Health facilities in emergencies' underscores the need to develop joint plan of action and response strategies so that health facilities are made more efficient, safer and capable of dealing with emergency health situations at all times in order to mitigate the sufferings of the people, she added.
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