Staff Reporter:
Health and Family Welfare Minister Sardar Md. Sakhawat Hossain yesterday said no one involved in the deaths of six newborns at Ad-din Hospital would be spared, assuring strict legal action against those re-sponsible.
“The accused often gain legal advantages when cases are filed without post-mortem examinations. But in the case of the deaths of six newborns at Ad-din Hospital, they will not be able to take any such ad-vantage. There will be no leniency in this matter,” he told journalists at his office at Bangladesh Secre-tariat yesterday.
The minister also announced a series of major healthcare initiatives aimed at strengthening child and ma-ternal healthcare services across the country.
He said five specialized 200-bed children’s hospitals are being constructed in Khulna, Barishal, Rangpur, Rajshahi divisions and Cumilla, each equipped with an Intensive Care Unit (ICU), and are expected to be completed within the next six months.
Sakhawat said the tender process for furniture and medical equipment for the hospitals has already been completed.
“Each hospital will require 1,475 personnel. The Prime Minister has already instructed the Public Ad-ministration Minister to ensure full staffing for these facilities,” he added.
Addressing the accommodation crisis faced by students of Dhaka Medical College (DMC), the minister said a new residential building would be constructed on the campus to improve housing facilities for future healthcare professionals.
On dengue and measles prevention, the minister said preparations are being taken to respond swiftly de-pending on the dengue variant detected.
“We are working to prevent both measles and dengue. Every private hospital will be required to reserve 10 percent of its beds for dengue patients,” he said.
The minister said that corruption and negligence over the past 17 years had severely hindered progress in the country’s health sector.
“No meaningful development took place in the health sector due to corruption and neglect during the last 17 years. We are committed to breaking this cycle and building a corruption-free healthcare system as part of a new Bangladesh,” he added.
