Staff Reporter:
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s brainchild “Community Clinic” has already gained world repute beyond the boundary of Bangladesh.
Earlier, this community based clinics used to provide 30 types of free medicines to people in rural re-mote areas but recently medicines for high blood pressure and diabetes have been added to the drug list in four upazilas initially under a pilot project.
To reduce the burden of non-communicable diseases on the health sector and to take into account the needs of the people, the government has added drugs for hypertension and diabetes to the list of drugs in community clinics.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina launched this unique community clinic-based health system in Bangladesh in 1998 aiming at bringing all the countrymen under primary healthcare, which made a revolution by reaching the government’s primary healthcare at the doorsteps of grassroots people.
Under a pilot project, 86 community clinics of 4 upazilas (Golapganj, Fenchuganj, Bishwanath and Beanibazar) of Sylhet district have recently been provided with hypertension medicines.
These medicines will be available free of cost in every community clinic in the country from next year.
Officially, it will take some time to launch this program in community clinics across the country, said Md Quiume Talukder, line director of Community Based Health Care (CBHC) under Health and Family Welfare Ministry.
He said the premier always wants that the medicines of community clinics should be given to patients properly.
