|
Prime Minister Khaleda Zia said the number of hospitals, doctors and nurses is increasing every year in the country as the government gives highest priority to health services, report agencies.
"We believe that the real assets of the country are the people. The goal of development is to ensure good health and long life of the people and enhance their work ability," she said at the foundation laying ceremony of the Bangladesh Institute of Health Science (BIHS) hospital at Darussalam in Mirpur area of the city.
The Prime Minister formally unveiled the plaque of the hospital before offering munazat. The BIHS hospital will be the central hospital of Bangladesh Diabetic Association (BDA) with modern health services and research facilities.
Khaleda also inaugurated the yearlong programme of BDA on the occasion of its golden jubilee celebration and announced the opening of 'Health Care Development Project' to be implemented with the joint cooperation of Bangladesh and the Netherlands.
The Prime Minister appreciated the health services of Bangladesh Diabetic Association and expressed the hope that other private organisations would also come forward in such society-oriented benevolent activities.
She paid tributes to BDA founder late national professor Dr Mohammad Ibrahim and recalled his close working relations with Shaheed President Ziaur Rahman.
The organisational efficiency of Dr Ibrahim turned the efforts to check diabetes in the country into a successful social movement, she said.
The activities of BDA have become a successful model of public-private partnership because of government assistance and initiatives of the BDA, she added.
Prime Minister expressed the hope that many other organisations would come forward to deliver social services following the bright example set by the Diabetic Association of Bangladesh
She lauded the role of the Diabetic Association in ensuring people's good health and increasing life expectancy through proper care of people suffering from diabetic diseases that eat into the vitals of life.
The PM said the government has adopted a long-term health nutrition and population programme for 2003 to 2010 involving Tk 324.50 billion.
The project has been taken in line with poverty-reduction strategy paper and millennium development goal targets aiming to control population, increase reproductive health service and further reduce maternal and child mortality rates, she explained.
Chaired by BDA Chairman Wahiduddin Mahmud, the function was also addressed, among others, by Health and Family Welfare Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain, Social Welfare Minister Ali Ahsan M Mujahid, Netherlands Ambassador in Bangladesh Kees Bimsterboer, local MP S A Khaleque, Bangladesh Medical Association (BMA) President M A Hadi, BMA General Secretary A Z M Zahid Hossain and BDA Secretary General A K Azad Khan.
|