Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Samanta Lal Sen said on Wednesday that he instructed officials concerned to close down all illegal health centres, including clinics, diagnostic centres in different parts of the country.

“I wanted to know from the officials how many illegal clinics, diagnostic centres and health centres are there in the country. No matter how many there are, our drive to shut down these illegal health centres will be launched soon. In the meantime, it is better if the owners of the illegal clinics and diagnostic centres shut down themselves, otherwise we will take necessary action,” he said.

The health minister said this to the media after placing wreaths at the grave of his childhood friend Sheikh Kamal and other martyrs of August 15 at Banani graveyard on Wednesday afternoon.

“We will work to reach the health service to the village level. The work becomes easier if the quality doctors who are providing treatment at Dhaka Medical College are sent to the district-upazila hospitals. And if the facilities of the doctors are good, they will surely be interested in working at the district-upazila level. Overall, our goal is to work to improve the quality of health care for the people of the country and we will do that,” said the minister.

Referring to his childhood friend and Bangabandhu's eldest son Sheikh Kamal, the health minister said, "If the eldest son of the Father of the Nation Sheikh Kamal was alive, the hands of our Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the eldest daughter of Bangabandhu, would undoubtedly have been much stronger. Sheikh Hasina could have turned Bangladesh into a developed country with that strong hand. But the killers did a lot of damage.”

Recalling his childhood, the health minister said, “Sheikh Kamal used to think a lot about the country. Some of us were his close friends. We have seen that he (Sheikh Kamal) was very much interested in the development of sports. He encouraged and patronised sports so that Bangladesh could play, keeping pace with the world. If he was alive today, Bangladesh would have progressed faster in all aspects including sports.”

Badal, a childhood friend of Sheikh Kamal, and officials of the health ministry were present at the time.