Health and Family Welfare Minister Zahid Maleque has said that Bangladesh is on the way of manufacturing corona virus vaccine soon with its own effort.
“With the instruction of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, we are expecting that Bangladesh will be able to manufacture COVID-19 vaccine as early as possible,” he said while rejecting public review on the Medical Degrees (Repeal) Bill, 2021 sought by the opposition lawmakers in the Jatiya Sangsad on Wednesday.
Bangladesh is not only importing the COVID-19 vaccine, but initiative has been taken to manufacture vaccine rapidly in the country, said the minister, pledging to ensure hundred percent vaccinations throughout the country.
Ruling out opposition lawmakers’ allegations over treatment problem due to oxygen shortage in different public hospitals during the corona pandemic, the health minister said normally 50- 60 tonnes oxygen are needed in the country in normal situation, but demand rose to 275 tonnes during the pandemic situation. “We have set up central oxygen supply system in the hospitals and huge quantities of oxygen also have been imported from neighbouring India,” the minister told parliament.
Apart from this, order has been placed to import some 50 oxygen generators, he said, adding: so there was no such situation of oxygen crisis in the country during the pandemic.
Replying to BNP lawmakers’ allegations about the health sector mismanagement, Maleque said BNP has appointed 700-800 physicians in Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), but they didn’t work, they had done only their business.
Even the BNP had shut down 14,000 community clinics throughout the country as people got 30 types of medicines from these community clinics.
Regarding manpower shortage in the public hospitals, he admitted that “we have manpower shortage in the hospitals, but 30,000 employees have been appointed during the corona situation – where 10,000 are doctors, 8,000 are nurses. The prime minister also has approved to appoint more 4,000 doctors.”
