Improving quality of rural healthcare importance of community paramedics undeniable

The National Consultative Meeting on “Community Paramedics: A Skilled Healthcare Workforce in Rural Bangladesh” was organsied by Achieving Sustainability Towards Healthcare Access (ASTHA), a project of Swisscontact Bangladesh, at The Westin Dhaka Saturday.

Speakers said at the discussion meeting that public, private and NGOs combined effort should be established in a bid to achieve the government’s goal of Sustainable development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.

“Dearth of skilled healthcare human resource is a major public health concern in Bangladesh. The situation is more alarming in rural areas where residents rely largely on unqualified providers.The government of Bangladesh therefore has stressed on reducing inadequacies in human resources in its fourth Health, Population and Nutrition Sector Development Programme (2017 – 2022).” one of the speakers said.

Mr. Ali Noor, honourable Secretary for Medical Education and Family Welfare division to the Ministry of Health &Family Welfare, the Chief Guest of the eventemphasized the importance of preventive healthcare and said: “The role of Community Paramedics in rural health service is essential and it should be spread across the country in order to ensure the availability of essential primary healthcare services. The assistance from the health-related government and non-government institution is required to develop the over healthcare system in the rural areas.” He has also emphasized on monitoring their service remit and the quality of the services.

The special guests further appreciated government’s efforts in monitoring the quality of the training institutes.

Mujibul Hasan, Country Director of Swisscontact Bangladesh has stressed on the importance of public private partnership in the overall growth of the country. Additionally he reinforced Swisscontact’s key role in facilitating and strengthening that public- private partnership and collaboration in attributing Bangladesh’s growth towards becoming a middle-income country.

Mujibul Hasan Country Director of Swisscontact Bangladesh, Bipasha Hossain, senior technical adviser, Swisscontact Bangladesh,Riad Mamun Prodhani, Managing Director and Country President of Novartis Bangladesh Ltd, Mostafa Jalal Mohiuddin, Presdent of Bangladesh Medical Association, Zakir Hossain, Senior Technical Adviser of ASTHA, Swisscontact Bangladesh, Fazle Razik, team leader of ASTHA, and Jafar Ahmed Hakim, senior technical adviser of ASTHA, representatives of CPTIsand Swisscontact Bangladeshwere present.