UNB, Barguna :
Speakers at a dialogue here on Tuesday said government surveillance will have to be strengthened to ensure effective healthcare services within the existing manpower in the country’s coastal areas.
They observed that there is a shortage of adequate and skilled human resources at community clinics and health centers in the coastal region of Bangladesh.
Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) and Oxfam in Bangladesh, in association with Jago Nari, jointly organised the dialogue titled ‘Healthcare in the Coastal Areas: The Effectiveness of Public Service Delivery’.
Deputy Commissioner of Barguna Mustain Billah spoke at the event as the chief guest while Civil Surgeon of Barguna Dr Md Humayun Shaheen Khan as special guest with CPD Distinguished Fellow Prof Mustafizur Rahman in the chair.
Eminent citizen of Barguna Sukhranjan Sheel and Chief Executive, Jago Nari Hosne Ara Hasi, Programme Manager, Oxfam in Bangladesh Dr Khalid Hossain also spoke at the dialogue. CPD senior research fellow Towfiqul Islam Khan made a keynote presentation at the dialogue.
The event was part of an ongoing project titled ‘Enhancing the participation of community-based organizations (CBOs) and civil society organization (CSOs) in democratic governance in Bangladesh’, supported by the European Union, according to CPD.
The speakers said the people of these hard-to-reach and disaster-prone areas are being deprived
of necessary health services due to lack of human resource in public services.
They said, enhanced coordination and communication between government and non-government organisations is essential to increase accountability and proper monitoring in ensuring effective healthcare service delivery.
The speakers said inability to provide adequate healthcare to the people living in coastal areas would undermine the realisation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) from the apprehension of ‘Leave No One Behind’.
Towfiqul Islam Khan, Senior Research Fellow, CPD, made a keynote presentation at the dialogue.
Prof Mustafizur Rahman said they can notice from the research that various health hazards of coastal areas are linked to lack of safe and potable water. “The local administration and citizens should work together to make safe water more accessible.”
He said, many people of Barguna earn their livelihoods through fishing and related activities and separate measures can also be taken to ensure their healthcare.
Prof Mustafizur said the government institutions, local non-governmental organisations and citizens will need to work together to ensure effective healthcare for the people in coastal region of the country.
Towfiqul presented a comparative status of Barguna in terms of healthcare services and highlighted that the number of appointed government physicians is inadequate compared to the number of population in Barguna.
Since Barguna is a coastal district, most of the assigned government physicians are also not willing to stay here, he said.
About 15.3 percent of the women in Barguna conceive before the age of 18 and, infant mortality is about 27 per 1,000 live births.
The irregular presence and inadequate number of Family Welfare Assistants often hinder the service receivers from taking birth control measures in systematic ways.
Service seekers often get abused by the staffs at the community clinics. Besides, there is a lack of public awareness regarding technological initiatives related to healthcare (such as Hotline 16263).
Speakers at a dialogue here on Tuesday said government surveillance will have to be strengthened to ensure effective healthcare services within the existing manpower in the country’s coastal areas.
They observed that there is a shortage of adequate and skilled human resources at community clinics and health centers in the coastal region of Bangladesh.
Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) and Oxfam in Bangladesh, in association with Jago Nari, jointly organised the dialogue titled ‘Healthcare in the Coastal Areas: The Effectiveness of Public Service Delivery’.
Deputy Commissioner of Barguna Mustain Billah spoke at the event as the chief guest while Civil Surgeon of Barguna Dr Md Humayun Shaheen Khan as special guest with CPD Distinguished Fellow Prof Mustafizur Rahman in the chair.
Eminent citizen of Barguna Sukhranjan Sheel and Chief Executive, Jago Nari Hosne Ara Hasi, Programme Manager, Oxfam in Bangladesh Dr Khalid Hossain also spoke at the dialogue. CPD senior research fellow Towfiqul Islam Khan made a keynote presentation at the dialogue.
The event was part of an ongoing project titled ‘Enhancing the participation of community-based organizations (CBOs) and civil society organization (CSOs) in democratic governance in Bangladesh’, supported by the European Union, according to CPD.
The speakers said the people of these hard-to-reach and disaster-prone areas are being deprived
of necessary health services due to lack of human resource in public services.
They said, enhanced coordination and communication between government and non-government organisations is essential to increase accountability and proper monitoring in ensuring effective healthcare service delivery.
The speakers said inability to provide adequate healthcare to the people living in coastal areas would undermine the realisation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) from the apprehension of ‘Leave No One Behind’.
Towfiqul Islam Khan, Senior Research Fellow, CPD, made a keynote presentation at the dialogue.
Prof Mustafizur Rahman said they can notice from the research that various health hazards of coastal areas are linked to lack of safe and potable water. “The local administration and citizens should work together to make safe water more accessible.”
He said, many people of Barguna earn their livelihoods through fishing and related activities and separate measures can also be taken to ensure their healthcare.
Prof Mustafizur said the government institutions, local non-governmental organisations and citizens will need to work together to ensure effective healthcare for the people in coastal region of the country.
Towfiqul presented a comparative status of Barguna in terms of healthcare services and highlighted that the number of appointed government physicians is inadequate compared to the number of population in Barguna.
Since Barguna is a coastal district, most of the assigned government physicians are also not willing to stay here, he said.
About 15.3 percent of the women in Barguna conceive before the age of 18 and, infant mortality is about 27 per 1,000 live births.
The irregular presence and inadequate number of Family Welfare Assistants often hinder the service receivers from taking birth control measures in systematic ways.
Service seekers often get abused by the staffs at the community clinics. Besides, there is a lack of public awareness regarding technological initiatives related to healthcare (such as Hotline 16263).
