Govt ready to tackle dengue situation: Health minister

Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Samant Lal Sen said that the country’s hospitals are fully prepared with medicines and saline to deal with the dengue situation.

More initiatives will be taken when the dengue season starts, he said while replying to a query of a reporter at a press conference at the ministry's conference room at the Secretariat in the capital on Sunday (June 2).

Samanta Lal Sen said, “Dengue must be prevented collectively. The preparation of the health ministry is sufficient. Ministries, departments and city corporations concerned should work in concert to control dengue infection. An inter-ministerial meeting in this regard will be organized soon.”

The health minister said the campaign should be strengthened through various means to stop the widespread use of antibiotics. This should be monitored regularly.

Talking about the visit to Geneva, the health minister said, “Bangladesh was praised by the Director General of the World Health Organization in his speech at the General Assembly for eradicating filaria as a public health problem and eliminating black fever for the first time in the world. The director general has said that Bangladesh can be a role model for other developing countries.”

Secretary to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Md Jahangir Alam, Secretary to Medical Education and Family Welfare Division Md Azizur Rahman, and Additional Secretary (Financial Management and Audit Division) to DGHS Md Abdus Samad, among others, were also present at the press conference.