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Health and Family Welfare Minister Sardar Md Sakhawat Husain has pledged to launch a national programme for the treatment and rehabilitation of children born with cleft lip and cleft palate across Bangladesh.
He made the announcement on Wednesday night at a gala dinner held at the Gulshan Club in Dhaka to mark the 8th International Friendship Medical Mission organised by Smile Asia in the capital.
Under the programme, titled "A Commitment to New Smiles," organisers provided free corrective surgery to 69 children born with cleft lip and cleft palate. The Government Employees Hospital organised the initiative in collaboration with Smile Asia, the Ministry of Public Administration, Dhaka Bank PLC and Sajeda Foundation.
The event drew senior officials and healthcare professionals, including Dhaka Bank Managing Director and CEO Osman Ershad Faiz, Sajeda Foundation CEO Jaheda Fizza Kabir, Smile Asia Secretary General Abhimanyu Talukdar and Government Employees Hospital Director General Md Abdur Razzak Sarker. Local and international specialist surgeons, anaesthesiologists, therapists and healthcare workers also attended.
The health minister said children born with cleft lip or cleft palate often face immense hardship, but the coordinated efforts of skilled surgeons, anaesthesiologists and nurses have restored their smiles and improved their quality of life.
He urged Smile Asia and Sajeda Foundation to continue such humanitarian programmes and said the government would elevate the initiative to a national programme when the organisations return to Bangladesh, allowing many more people to receive treatment.
Praising the capabilities of local medical professionals, Sakhawat said doctors now use an innovative method developed at the burn unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital to transport skin grafts to different districts within four to six hours, enabling faster treatment for burn patients.
He also said doctors and healthcare workers had worked tirelessly to treat people suffering from diarrhoea, cholera, skin diseases and snakebites in 11 flood-affected districts. He added that the health authorities had supplied adequate stocks of antivenom, water purification tablets and essential medicines to support emergency medical services.
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