A Correspondent:
Barishal: Prime Minister’s Health Affairs Special Assistant SM Ziauddin Hyder yesterday said the gov-ernment is planning to introduce a one-stop service so that every person in the country can check blood pressure, diabetes, and weight once a month.
“Under this service, healthcare workers, medical technologists, doctors, and nurses will provide 24-hour services at every union,” he told a views-exchange meeting at Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital here.
Highlighting healthcare delivery in rural areas, Hyder said although community clinics have been estab-lished through government initiatives, their effectiveness needs to be improved.
If sufficient doctors, medicines, and modern technology are ensured in these clinics, people in remote areas will be able to easily access healthcare, he said.
He also said that there is a need to introduce “Primary Health Care” in rural areas to simplify healthcare services.
Noting that the government is making strides to reach healthcare people’s doorsteps, he said the govern-ment has plan to launch Health Card programme within June–July to make healthcare more accessible and effective.
Users of this card will be able to receive various hospital services at affordable rates.
Emphasizing nursing education, he said that nursing has not yet been given a respectable position in so-ciety.
This profession must be recognized as a dignified profession, he said adding that like the rest of the world, and nurses in Bangladesh should be trained and made skilled so they can be sent abroad, earning foreign currency.
Describing the current state of medical education in the country, he said that the medical education sys-tem is very outdated.
Under the existing system, doctors, nurses, and medical technologists are forced to rely on rote learning, as the curriculum largely encourages memorization. He added that this system must be changed.
Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital Director Brigadier General Dr. AKM Mashiul Munir chaired the event while Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Principal Prof Md. Anwar Hossain and Bangladesh Shishu Hospital and Institute’s Prof. Dr. S. M. Khalid Mahmud were present, among others at the event.
