As part of expanding kidney dialysis services, the government has a plan to provide 10 kidney dialysis machines to each upazila across the country within the next two years, said Health and Family Welfare Minister Sardar Md. Sakhawat Husain on Monday.

“There is a plan to provide 10 kidney dialysis machines to each upazila within the next two years. At the same time, the government has taken various initiatives to enhance the skills of doctors in the country,” he said.

The minister made the remarks at the inauguration of the newly constructed Respiratory Critical Care and Interventional Pulmonology Centre at the National Institute of Diseases of the Chest and Hospital (NIDCH) in the city’s Mohakhali area.

Citing that the government’s major achievement depends on the health sector, he said the government is giving the highest priority to the health sector.

The health minister said allocations are being increased for hospitals where a large number of patients from different parts of the country come to receive treatment.

The NIDCH has expanded its intensive care services 21 years after the hospital was inaugurated by late prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia in 2005, he said adding that the newly established ICU has added 40 beds.

NIDCH Director Dr Golam Sarwar Liaquat Hossain Bhuiyan presided over the event, while Vice-Chancellor of Bangladesh Medical University Prof Dr FM Siddiqui, Director General of the Directorate General of Health Services Prof Dr Pravath Chandra Biswas, Doctors Association of Bangladesh (DAB) President Prof Dr Harun Al Rashid and DAB Secretary General Dr. Md. Zohirul Islam Shakil attended it.