The government will ensure ambulance services for reaching primary healthcare at people's doorsteps. As part of this plan, initiatives have been taken to manufacture electric ambulances using indigenous technology.
The decision was taken at a meeting held at the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) in the city's Tejgaon area this morning with Prime Minister Tarique Rahman in the chair, said Prime Minister's Assistant Press Secretary Mostafa Zulfiquar Hasan (Hasan Shiplu).
"The government is working to ensure ambulance services at the doorsteps of the people. To this end, a meeting was held today with Honorable Prime Minister Tarique Rahman in the chair. Detailed discussions and decisions were made in the meeting in this regard," he said.
Shiplu said the work of building ambulances for this project will start initially in a selected upazila as a model. If successful, he said, the initiative will help meet the country's ambulance demand and reduce dependence on imports.
According to the Prime Minister's Press Wing, the government has a plan to provide the services in three tiers. To this end, plans have been discussed to build three types of ambulances - from village to upazila, from upazila to district, and from district to capital.
The meeting was informed that if this government initiative is implemented, the country's dependence on imports to meet the demand for ambulances will be reduced and it will be possible to provide ambulances with modern facilities at a relatively low cost.
At the same time, the meeting noted that the initiative will help improve the emergency patient transport system.
The Press Wing further said experts informed the meeting that there are plans to add necessary medical equipment, oxygen support and various emergency service facilities to the locally manufactured ambulances. The vehicles would be designed considering Bangladesh's geographical conditions and road network.
Health and Family Welfare Minister Sardar Md. Sakhawat Husain, State Minister MA Muhit, Prime Minister's Special Assistant for Health Affairs SM Ziauddin Hyder, Health Services Division Secretary Md Quamruzzaman Chowdhury and Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) teachers Professor Md Ehsan, Professor Ziaur Rahman, Md Abdus Salam Akanda and Jahangir Alam were present at the meeting, among others.
