500 model health centres: ‘Round-the-clock service for mothers, little ones’

Round-the-clock maternal and neonatal health services will be available at 500 "Model Union Health and Family Welfare Centres" from now on, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said yesterday.

Necessary human resources and equipment have been ensured for the centres in each upazila, Maleque said while inaugurating the centres at an event in Dhaka.

It was organised marking the 59th birth anniversary of Sheikh Russel, youngest son of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

He also spoke of unnecessary caesarean deliveries in the country.

More than 500 union health and family welfare centres will be upgraded to be model ones, the minister announced.

Each of the 4,562 unions has a health and family welfare centre, run by the Directorate General of Family Planning (DGFP) under the health ministry.

But they cannot provide quality healthcare to locals due to the shortage of human resources and logistics.

On July 22, DGFP instructed all upazila health and family welfare officers to upgrade one centre in each upazila to a model health centre.