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Published : 28 Mar 2026, 09:33 PM
Fuming at the deaths of 33 children allegedly due to lack of ICU ventilators at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH), Health and Family Welfare Minister Sardar Sakhawat Husain Bakul said the hospital director should "hang".
"In 11 days, 33 patients – all of them babies -- have died at RMCH. The hospital director did not inform us that there was no ventilator and neonatal ventilator. He should be hanged," he said on Saturday.
"After I called him, he told me, 'the media is exaggerating it a bit'…. He gave me a report yesterday, but could not deny the media coverage. What can I do?"
Bakul spoke at an event organised by the Society of Surgeons of Bangladesh in the capital's Shahbagh, according to a media statement of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
The minister, however, said three ventilators were bought through his “personal contacts” for the ICU.
According to a news report, the children died at the hospital between Mar 11 and 22.
Bakul vowed to make the heath sector free from corruption and malpractice.
“I’ve come to this programme today to say just one thing: I want your cooperation in serving the nation, not me,” he said.
“I want to make the ministry completely free of misdeeds, corruption, and terrorism.”
Emphasising the role of physicians to help advance the country’s health sector, he said it will be difficult for his ministry to cater to the people properly if it gets no cooperation from doctors.
The minister also sought the assistance of the doctors at the grassroots level to help succeed in the mission to serve the people.
On a separate note, he highlighted the measures and plans taken by the government on various issues, including preparations to deal with the recent increase in measles cases, management of rabies vaccination, and the establishment of an emergency NICU and ventilation at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital.
