Government building strong referral network for women's health development: State Minister for Health

He said these things while speaking as chief guest at the third international scientific conference of the Endometriosis-Adenomyosis Society of Bangladesh at a hotel in the capital at noon on Friday (30 October).

The state minister said that millions of women in the country are suffering from long-term and increasingly complex conditions like endometriosis. But due to social taboos and lack of awareness, most of them remain undiagnosed.

He said the government has planned to recruit 100,000 new health workers to address this problem, and at least 50,000 of them will be women. He called for creating easy training modules for these health workers. Through their direct contact with women at the field level, it will be possible to raise awareness as well as establish an effective referral system for early detection of disease and necessary treatment.

Mentioning the excessive pressure of patients and suffering in large hospitals, the State Minister for Health said that the large hospitals in Dhaka are treating several times more patients than their bed capacity. One of the main reasons for this is the lack of an effective referral network.

He said that if skilled manpower, trained doctors and necessary equipment are ensured in upazila and district-level hospitals, about 80 percent of people will receive proper medical care in their own areas. The government is working to increase the capacity of local and district-level hospitals.

Emphasizing research, Dr. M A Muhit said that although there are skilled and trained doctors in the country, due to workload and lack of necessary resources, Bangladesh is somewhat behind in international-standard research and publications. He assured all-out cooperation from the government to encourage young doctors in research. The state minister also said that necessary support will be provided at the state level if they come with specific and good proposals.

Highlighting other complexities of women's health, he said that in Bangladesh, about five thousand women die every year after being affected by cervical cancer. The government has plans to expand cancer treatment services at every divisional level in the country to reduce this death rate and ensure timely detection of the disease.

The conference, organized with the cooperation of the Asian Society of Endometriosis and Adenomyosis, was attended by renowned doctors and health sector stakeholders of the country.