The government plans to provide 10 kidney dialysis machines to each upazila across the country within the next two years as part of efforts to expand dialysis services, Health and Family Welfare Minister Sardar Md Sakhawat Husain said on Monday.

“There is a plan to provide 10 kidney dialysis machines to each upazila within the next two years. At the same time, the government has taken various initiatives to enhance the skills of doctors in the country,” he said.

The minister made the remarks at the inauguration of the newly constructed Respiratory Critical Care and Interventional Pulmonology Centre at the National Institute of Diseases of the Chest and Hospital (NIDCH) in Mohakhali.

He said the government is giving the highest priority to the health sector, noting that the government’s major achievements depend on improvements in healthcare.

Sakhawat said allocations are being increased for hospitals that receive large numbers of patients from different parts of the country.

The NIDCH has expanded its intensive care services 21 years after the hospital was inaugurated by then prime minister Khaleda Zia in 2005, he said, adding that the newly established ICU has 40 beds.

NIDCH Director Dr Golam Sarwar Liaquat Hossain Bhuiyan presided over the event.

Vice-Chancellor of Bangladesh Medical University Prof Dr FM Siddiqui, Director General of the Directorate General of Health Services Prof Dr Pravath Chandra Biswas, Doctors Association of Bangladesh (DAB) President Prof Dr Harun Al Rashid and DAB Secretary General Dr Md Zohirul Islam Shakil attended the event.