PM pledges quality health services to all
Sheikh Rehana, younger sister of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, unveils the plaque of Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib Memorial Specialised Hospital and Nursing College at Tetoibari in Gazipur yesterday while Sheikh Hasina, Social Welfare Minister Enamul Haq Mostafa Shahid, Health Minister Dr AFM Ruhal Haque and PM's Adviser Dr Syed Mudasser Ali applaud. Photo: PMO
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday reiterated the government's strong commitment to ensure quality health services to all, particularly the poor. She, however, said reaching health services to the doorsteps of people needs cooperation of people from all walks of life. Hasina was addressing the foundation stone laying ceremony of Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib Memorial Specialised Hospital and Nursing College at Tetoibari here. Hasina and her younger sister Sheikh Rehana together laid the foundation stone of the hospital and college. Chaired by Social Welfare Minister Enamul Haq Mostafa Shahid, the function was also addressed by Health Minister Dr AFM Ruhal Haq, Adviser to the PM Dr Syed Mudasser Ali and local lawmaker AKM Mozammel Haque. The 250-bed specialised hospital and 50-seat nursing college will be built jointly by Bangabandhu Memorial Trust and Social Welfare Ministry under the government's Public Private Partnership (PPP) programme. Construction work of the Tk 215 crore project will be completed by 2012. Hasina in an emotion choked voice recalled the contributions of her mother Sheikh Fazilataunnesa Mujib and the sacrifices she smilingly made to support Bangabandhu in his struggle for the nation's independence. “My mother's patience, sacrifice, patriotism and tolerance are not written in the history. But, as her daughter, I've seen how much she had sacrificed and how she patiently supported my father Bangabandhu.” She said year after year Bangabandhu had to stay in jail, but Fazilatunnesa did not abandon her struggle to help achieve the national independence and sovereignty. “On one hand, my mother managed our family and on the other she had to always give company to Bangabandhu in his fight for liberation,” Hasina said. “My mother even sold all her gold ornaments to meet various expenses.” She said her father and mother both loved the country's people more than their children. She said, “We, the two sisters, had survived as we were abroad on August 15, 1975. Now our only aim is to work for the people's welfare.” She said they had donated all their inherited property for national cause. “The house at Dhanmondi 32 was more of the people, rather than us. That's why we decided to make this house a museum.” Hasina said a library and research centre will be built alongside the Bangabandhu Museum at Dhanmondi 32. She said the Bangabandhu Memorial Trust will introduce scholarships in the city's Shaheen School where Sheikh Kamal had studied and at the University Laboratory School where Sheikh Russell studied. Besides, she added that scholarships would be introduced at Dhaka College where both Sheikh Kamal and Sheikh Jamal had studied.
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