Govt to Build Six 100-Bed Hospitals for Workers: PM

Prime Minister Tarique Rahman on Monday told Parliament that the government plans to establish six dedicated 100-bed hospitals in major industrial areas to ensure better healthcare services for workers.

“To ensure proper medical care for workers and the working class, the government has planned to construct six hospitals, each with a capacity of 100 beds,” he said.

The hospitals will initially be established in Savar and Ashulia in Dhaka, Tongi and Kaliakair in Gazipur, Narayanganj and Chattogram, he added.

The facilities will be exclusively dedicated to workers and developed as specialised healthcare centres for them, the prime minister said while responding to a lawmaker's question in Parliament.

Earlier, BNP lawmaker Shamsur Rahman Simul Biswas raised the issue on a point of order, asking whether the government had any specific plan to establish hospitals in labour-intensive areas to provide healthcare services to workers and their families.

He said the labour minister had previously spoken about the prime minister's interest in ensuring healthcare services for low-income productive citizens, particularly working people.

Deputy Speaker Barrister Kayser Kamal said the lawmaker had raised the question ahead of the prime minister's question-answer session scheduled for Wednesday, as Tarique would not be present in Parliament that day.

In response, the prime minister also discussed the challenges facing the country's energy, industrial and healthcare sectors.

He said Bangladesh's energy sector had become dependent on foreign sources during more than a decade of authoritarian rule, with the country relying on imports instead of properly utilising its own mineral resources for public benefit.

He added that import-dependent policies had also hampered industrial development and prevented domestic industries from growing naturally.

Tarique said the country's healthcare system had similarly weakened under the previous regime, particularly in rural areas, where healthcare facilities established under earlier democratic governments had also been destroyed.

He said the Leader of the Opposition had also expressed concern over the state of the country's healthcare system during a recent parliamentary session.

The prime minister alleged that the healthcare system had been deliberately weakened under the previous regime, forcing many Bangladeshis to travel to a particular foreign country for medical treatment.

He said the current government had been elected through the people's votes and was working for people from all classes and professions. The government was also giving priority to healthcare services for workers, he added.