The government has plans to boost the health sector of the country aiming to provide more sustainable healthcare facilities to the doorsteps of the masses.

According to the election manifesto of the government, 100- bed cancer units are being established in 8 Divisional Hospitals.

Moreover, the implementation of the project to establish 50-bed dialysis units at medical college hospitals and 10-bed dialysis units at district hospitals is also underway.

According to an official policy document, the government has started establishing Burn Units at Rajshahi, Sylhet, Barishal, Rangpur and Faridpur Medical Colleges under a project with support from the Saudi Government.

Besides, for the management of medical waste at the district level and medical college hospitals, the implementation of the ‘Medical Waste Management’ project is underway.

The implementation of the feasibility study project to rebuild and transform Dhaka Medical College Hospital into a 5,000 bed modern world-class hospital is well in progress, the document said.

In addition, the project for the development and expansion of Pabna Mental Hospital to international standards and the establishment of full-fledged mental health units at every divisional level medical college are going to be taken up.

The document said that the government has plans to establish Bangabandhu Health City at Mohakhali.

Currently, there are 17 establishments of the Health Ministry in Mohakhali in the capital city.

Apart from this, there are several health service institutions and hospitals including the Health Directorate office, Community Clinic office, BMRC building there.

 If this plan is implemented, Mohakhali will become the center of well-organized health infrastructure, hospitals and administrative activities of the Ministry of Health.

According to the sources of the Ministry of Health, more hospitals will be established here if the Health City is implemented there.

The document mentions that the government is continuously working for autism and autistic children. In the meantime, 1.33 lakh autistic children have been given treatment.

Child Development Centre has been established in 16 Medical College Hospitals including at Dhaka Shishu Hospital.

The government plans to do the same in more Medical College Hospitals and 9 District Hospitals.

For the safety and development of the autistic children, the government has allocated Tk. 1.30 crore during COVID-19 and will also allocate sufficient budget in the running 2022-23 fiscal year.

The document said that work is going on to establish new 211 centres in addition to the existing 103 centres to provide Therapeutic services to the disabled people in the remote areas of the country.

Moreover, the disabled people who are at risk of disability are getting Therapeutic services through 40 mobile therapy vans in remote areas of the country.

To achieve ‘Universal Health Care Coverage’ steps have been taken to formulate ‘Health Protection Law’, the document stated.

‘Infection Protection Guideline’ has been prepared for the community clinics.

‘Government Outdoor Dispensary Operational Guideline’ has already been finalised and under this guideline at least 8 Government Outdoor Dispensaries (GoD) will start functioning in the running fiscal year, the document mentioned.

The Prime Minister has given the directives to establish a high-quality institute in the country for manufacturing all types of vaccines including that for coronavirus.

Accordingly, the 100 percent state-owned Essential Drugs Company has taken steps to set up a state-of-the-art vaccine manufacturing plant at Gopalganj, with financial and technical assistance from the Asian Development Bank.

It will eventually transform into an international standard vaccine research and production center so that the country does not rely on overseas sources for vaccines.