'Involve local govt to ensure quality healthcare'

11 April 2010, 18:00 PM

Staff Correspondent

Speakers at a workshop yesterday stressed the need for ensuring quality health service by involving the local government division and community people. At the workshop titled 'Improving Quality Health Services', the speakers also highlighted loopholes of the health service system and identified some ways to address the problems. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare organised the workshop in association with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) at Sasakawa auditorium of the ICDDR,B in the city. At the inaugural session of the workshop, Director General of the Director General of Health Services (DGHS) Shah Monir Hossain said a massive reform is needed in the health sector. "The existing facility is not enough and the time is very mature to discuss about the total reform of health sector," he said adding that an accreditation council should be developed and the hospitals need total autonomy. Furthermore, decentralisation is needed and it should be incorporated with the health policy, he added. Health Minister Dr AFM Ruhal Haque said improvement in health, sanitation and other sectors will be difficult without decentralisation. "The upazila health complexes, Union Sub Centres, Community Clinics, delivery centres --- all are centrally controlled. But monitoring from the centre is tough," he said adding that unless the local government gets involved with health delivery, it is not possible to provide quality health services. "Quality is not a luxury. As far as health is concerned, quality is a necessity," said Health Secretary Sheikh Altaf Ali. He also stressed collaboration from other ministries to provide quality health service. JICA Chief Representative Takao Toda said quality comes from commitment, which paves the way for establishing trust towards the society and trust between people and the government. He also talked about the JICA's activities where involvement of the community and local government made it possible to ensure safe motherhood. Safe Motherhood Promotion Project had been running for the last four years in Narsingdi while only one maternal mortality was recorded in the locality in the last three years, which was 300 earlier, said Syed Mohammad Iqbal, chairman of Danga union in Narsingdi. Japanese Ambassador Tamotsu Shinozuka, Secretary of Local Government Division Monzur Hossain, Director General of the Directorate General of Family Planning Abdul Qayyum and Director (Hospital) of DGHS Dr Mujibur Rahman also spoke at the inaugural session.