Advanced eye care to be available at upazila level: health state minister

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Advanced eye care services will be introduced at the upazila level, with separate outpatient and inpatient departments and operating theatres planned at 151-bed hospitals being constructed in every upazila, Health State Minister Dr MA Muhit said on Tuesday.

He made the remarks as the chief guest at the formal launch of the World Health Organization’s ‘SPECS 2030’ initiative at the Ruposhi Bangla Grand Ballroom of Hotel InterContinental Dhaka.

The minister said the government was finalising an integrated national eye-care plan targeting nearly one million cataract surgeries, the distribution of several crore pairs of spectacles and treatment for diabetic retinopathy.

He said the government was converting upazila health complexes into 151-bed hospitals and planned to provide advanced eye-care facilities in around 500 upazilas. This would reduce the need for people in rural areas to travel to district towns or Dhaka for treatment.

The government’s recruitment programme for around 100,000 health workers will also include mandatory training in primary eye care, Muhit said.

He added that infrastructure at district hospitals would be coordinated to expand cataract surgery and refraction services to at least half of the country’s districts.

The minister said the Health Ministry had been coordinating with international and local organisations over the past six months to expand and improve eye-care services.

The event was also addressed by Professor Dr ASM M Kadir, acting director of the National Institute of Ophthalmology and Hospital; Dr Tashi Tobgay, Regional Adviser at the WHO South-East Asia Regional Office; and Dr Ahmed Jamshed Mohamed, WHO Representative to Bangladesh, among others.