80% of new healthcare workers to be women: Zubaida

Detailed summary

The government is recruiting 1 lakh healthcare workers, 80 percent of them women, to provide preventive healthcare services at people’s doorsteps, Dr Zubaida Rahman,…

The government is recruiting 1 lakh healthcare workers, 80 percent of them women, to provide preventive healthcare services at people’s doorsteps, Dr Zubaida Rahman, vice-president of the Ziaur Rahman Foundation, said yesterday.

She made the announcement at a programme marking the 12th anniversary of the Institute for Developing Science and Health Initiatives (ideSHi) at a hotel in the capital.

Zubaida said millions of women in more than 90,000 villages across the country suffered from preventable illnesses, partly due to years of neglect of preventive healthcare.

The workers would raise awareness and deliver preventive services at the community level, she said, stressing the importance of research, testing and public trust in improving healthcare.

Dr Firdausi Qadri, eminent scientist and founder of ideSHi, said the institute worked on public health issues, including thalassaemia, cancer detection and genetic disorders, particularly inborn errors of metabolism.

Dr SM Ziauddin Hyder, special assistant to the prime minister on health affairs, said research, science, technology and innovation must be central to healthcare reforms.

He identified five priorities: disease prevention, stronger primary healthcare, pharmaceutical innovation, digital health and a sustainable research and development ecosystem.

ideSHi Chairman Ashfaq Qadri delivered the welcome address, while Abdul Muktadir, chairman and managing director of Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd, also spoke.

Opening of the article, excerpted from The Daily Star. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.