Govt to hire 2,000 more doctors if needed
Health Minister Zahid Maleque yesterday said the government would take steps to appoint 2,000 more physicians to contain the situation if the number of Covid-19 patients continued to soar.
"The government will take steps seeing the situation. It will appoint additional 2,000 physicians if the coronavirus situation remains unchanged. Besides, the process to appoint medical technologists is underway," he said.
The minister was speaking at a press briefing at the VIP lounge of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport. He went there to see off a Chinese expert team.
Talking about the rising number of novel coronavirus cases, Zahid said, "If the people do not become aware of the highly contagious virus, all the hospitals of the country will be full to capacity with Covid-19 patients. People should be more aware of the virus."
He also emphasised on allocating more budget for the health sector to fight the novel coronavirus.
The minister also said China is working to develop a coronavirus vaccine and the Chinese government has said Bangladesh will get priority in terms of cooperation and support if they can successfully develop a vaccine for the virus.
About the visit of the Chinese delegation, he said, "The Chinese delegation expressed satisfaction over the work of Bangladesh in tackling the coronavirus crisis. They also said there are some areas where improvement is possible. We will work on those identified areas in future."
Referring to Covid-19 testing kits, Zahid said the government has taken steps to meet the demand and so there is no reason to worry about it.
The 10-member team of Chinese experts, who has firsthand experience of containing the virus and treating patients with remarkable success, came to Bangladesh with medical equipment.
Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming, who was present at the press briefing, also assured of providing vaccine to Bangladesh on priority basis once it is developed.
Prof Abul Kalam Azad, director general of the Directorate General of Health Services, also spoke at the press briefing.
Representatives of the Chinese delegation and top officials concerned of the health sector were present.
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