Health ministry form teams to inspect hospitals on regular basis

The health ministry has formed teams to regularly inspect and monitor government hospitals across the country, including the digital attendance of doctors and other health workers, cleanliness, equipment, infrastructure and overall management.

The Health Service Division issued a circular in this regard on Sunday.

Tap here to add The Daily Star as a trusted source

Under an order, 69 officials -- from additional to assistant secretaries -- have been assigned to inspect institutes, specialised hospitals, medical college hospitals and other hospitals to improve the quality of healthcare, maintain administrative discipline and ensure better public services.

The ministry earlier assigned its officials for monitoring hospitals but this time the officials were asked to regularly monitor the digital attendance of doctors and health workers at the hospitals and submit their reports on their attendance, sources at the ministry said.

The directives came a month after Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, in his first visit to the health ministry last month, asked the authorities concerned to ensure that doctors remain present at work.

The meeting on July 20 also decided to turn to geofencing and other digital technologies to ensure the regular attendance of doctors and health workers at public hospitals, with plans to link attendance records to salaries, leave, and promotions.

The move came amid allegations that many skip duty during office hours, depriving patients of essential healthcare services, according to ministry insiders.

In Sunday’s directives, the health officials have been asked to coordinate with hospital authorities to take necessary measures to improve healthcare services, particularly in areas such as manpower, cleanliness, equipment, infrastructure development, security, and overall management.

The officials are expected to also coordinate with deputy commissioners, civil surgeons, upazila nirbahi officers, and upazila health and family welfare officers to help ensure progress in vaccination programmes, non-communicable disease prevention and public awareness activities.

They are supposed to participate in and provide necessary support to programmes related to reducing maternal and child deaths, elderly healthcare, nutrition, and other public health services.

Following regular inspections and communication with officials concerned, the designated officers are expected to submit their observations and recommendations to the relevant ministry branch by the 7th of every month.

Each designated official has been instructed to conduct at least one inspection every month.