PM warns of energy sector sabotage
Prime Minister Tarique Rahman on Saturday accused groups that benefited from fascism of trying to destabilise Bangladesh’s power and energy sector by spreading misleading information, while acknowledging that people are facing continuing shortages of electricity, gas and fuel.
“Those who are benefited from fascism are not sitting idle. This group is quite active to destabilise the country’s energy and power sector in various ways. They were spreading misleading information about the sector,” he said.
The prime minister made the remarks while addressing a rally organised by the Doctors Association of Bangladesh (DAB) at the LD Hall of the Jatiya Sangsad complex, marking the association’s 37th founding anniversary.
Tarique said previous governments had put the power and energy sector at risk through unplanned projects and decisions taken to provide “special benefits to certain quarters”.
“The government is not denying that people are currently facing crises of electricity, gas and fuel.
But the country, its people and the government are now paying for those unplanned schemes to provide special benefits to certain quarters,” he said.
He said the government had inherited a “fragile situation” and had already begun taking measures to address the multifaceted crisis.
“We have already started taking various steps to overcome the multifaceted crises,” Tarique said, adding that plans were being formulated to gradually bring people out of the crises involving gas, electricity and fuel.
He said the government was implementing practical plans to make the energy, education and health sectors more self-reliant and sustainable.
“Even in such a situation, the beneficiaries of fascism in the state, politics, governance and administration are not sitting idle. Recently, we have observed that a group is strategically active in trying to destabilise the fuel or power sector,” he said.
Health spending to rise
Turning to healthcare, Tarique said the government had made the second-highest allocation in the national budget for the health sector for the first time and planned to raise health spending gradually to 5 per cent of GDP over the next five years.
The government has also begun work to introduce e-health cards and decided to upgrade every upazila hospital to a 101-bed facility, he said.
Tarique said 100,000 new health workers would be recruited nationwide to raise public awareness of primary healthcare, with doctors expected to lead their training.
He said the government endorsed the principle that “prevention is better than cure”, arguing that doctors should educate patients about exercise, balanced diets and disease prevention rather than focusing solely on prescribing medicines.
Several proposals have been submitted to improve the health sector, including recruiting 5,000 doctors through a special BCS examination, raising the maximum age for entry into government service from 32 to 34, and increasing the retirement age for doctors from 61 to 65.
Other proposals include a Health Services Protection Act, special allowances for doctors working in upazilas and remote areas, a pay structure for more than 100,000 private-sector doctors, and specialised hospitals at divisional, district and upazila levels.
Tarique said the proposals were “not unreasonable” and would be considered in phases. He said work had already begun on specialised hospitals, including children’s facilities, outside Dhaka.
Call for political restraint
The prime minister also said students, teachers and professionals could remain politically organised or politically aware in a democratic state, but warned that excessive political involvement should not interfere with professional duties.
“It is now time to bring about qualitative changes in politics by going beyond traditional political practices,” he said.
He said the government had inherited a weak economy, divided administration and fragile education and healthcare systems and urged doctors to play a more responsible and humane role.
“People expect doctors to play a more responsible and humane role,” Tarique said, calling for a “doctor-friendly Bangladesh” where citizens would receive quality healthcare without having to travel abroad for treatment.
DAB President Professor Dr Harun Al Rashid chaired the rally, attended by BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Health Minister Sardar Md Sakhawat Husain and senior government officials, among others.
