Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said Tuesday her government will not stop any pro-people projects and programmes initiated during the last BNP-led alliance rule.
Hasina said this when Director General of World Health Organization (WHO) Dr Margaret Chan called on her at the Prime Minister’s Office in the morning.
The WHO chief congratulated the premier as she has been named among the Asia's eight top powerful women by American broadcaster CNN, said prime minister’s Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad.
She also lauded Hasina and her government for quick and innovative initiatives to ensure quality but cheap medical services for the mass people of the country.
Dr Chan informed the prime minister about her experience during her visit to a rural area of Bangladesh when she saw a health official giving health advices through mobile phone to rural people living in the remote areas.
She said she came to know that the health official daily receives at least 100 mobile phone calls from the people in remote areas for offering them health advices.
In reply, the prime minister said mobile phone services have become widely available in Bangladesh now as her previous government had opened the market for cell phone companies to break the then monopoly of a particular phone company.
The WHO top official said she strongly believes that health situation of Bangladesh will improve to a significant level under the visionary leadership of Sheikh Hasina.
She also hailed the government for giving importance to the improvement of nursing services in the country by providing modern training to the nurses.
Hasina, in reply, said the Awami League government during its first tenure (1996-2001) started some health development projects to bring modern medical treatment to the doorsteps of the village people.
One of such projects, she mentioned, was setting up 18,000 community health clinics, of which 11,000 clinics across the country were started, but the next BNP-Jamaat government had closed the clinics and the whole project on political ground.
However, the present government has taken steps to re-establish all the community health clinics for greater interest of the people, the Prime Minister said.
She said the concept of community health clinics was taken following the health programmes of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s post-liberation war government.
Besides, Hasina said Bangabandhu Memorial Trust is continuing free medical service programme that started on January 10 this year across the country. Under this programme, so far some 700,000 people have been given free treatment including eye operations.
Bangladesh is now on the right track of achieving the targeted growth, Dr. Chan said, expressing the hope that the country would make progress in future under the able leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
The WHO chief also lauded Sheikh Hasina and her government for taking effective steps to implement the Women Development Policy.
The prime minister said her government has also undertaken a policy not to let one inch of land remain uncultivated in order to increase food production of the country.
She said steps are being taken to implement ‘one farm one homestead’ policy to make the rural people economically self-reliant and also to produce organic foods.
During the meeting, they also discussed solar energy and solar panel as an alternative to increasing power generation.
Health Minister AFM Ruhal Huq, Health Adviser to the prime minister Prof Syed Modasser Ali, State Minister for Health Mozibur Rahman Fakir and Ambassador at large M Ziauddin were, among others, present.
Source: thedailystar.net
