Govt to Appoint 2000 More Physicians Tackle covid-19 Situation: Health Minister

Health Minister Zahid Maleque said on Monday that if the number of Covid-19 patients continues to rise, the government will take steps to appoint an additional 2,000 doctors to contain the situation.

“The government will take steps to see the situation. It will appoint additional 2000 physicians if the coronavirus situation worsens. Besides, the process to appoint medical technologists is going on,” he said at a press briefing at the VIP lounge of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport when he went there to see off the Chinese expert team.

While talking about the increasing number of coronavirus cases, the Minister said “If people do not become aware of the highly infective virus, then all the hospitals of the country will be full of Covid-19 patients. People should be more aware of the virus.”

He also emphasized more budget allocation in the health sector to fight coronavirus.

In addition, the Minister also said that China is working on the development of coronavirus vaccines, and the Chinese Government said that Bangladesh will be given priority in terms of cooperation and support if coronavirus vaccines can be successfully developed.

Talking about the visit of the Chinese delegation, the Minister said, “The Chinese delegation expressed their satisfaction over the work of Bangladesh in tackling coronavirus crisis. They also suggested to the government that there are some areas where improvement is possible. We’ll work on those identified areas in the future.”

Referring to the test kits, Zahid Maleque said the government has taken steps to meet the demand, so there is no reason to worry about kits.

The 10-member squad of Chinese specialists, who have first-hand expertise of suppressing the virus and treating patients with impressive results, came to Bangladesh with a bunch of medical equipment.

Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming, who was present at the press briefing, also assured of providing the vaccine to Bangladesh on a priority basis whet developed.

Besides, Prof Abul Kalam Azad, director-general of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) also spoke at the press briefing. Representatives of the Chinese delegation and high official concerned of the Health sector were present there.

Source: UNB