Ecnec okays physicians and surgeons college upgrade project

The government has approved a Tk215 crore project to modernise research and training infrastructure at Bangladesh College of Physicians and Surgeons (BCPS). 

The project, approved at the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council meeting on Tuesday, is aimed at widening the scope of training and research for postgraduate medical students. 

It would play a role in creating specialised doctors in the country, Planning Minister MA Mannan told reporters after the meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. 

There would be more research in the healthcare sector once the project was implemented, Mannan quoted the prime minister as saying.  

Under the project, necessary medical equipment and furniture will be procured to increase the capacity of the new Research Training Monitoring Department at BCPS.

A 12-storey multi-purpose building with three basements will be constructed on the BCPS campus. Its area will be 2.59 lakh square feet. A 1,500-seat auditorium will also be constructed next to this building.

BCPS is a postgraduate medical education institution that confers Fellowship of the College of Physicians and Surgeons (FCPS) and Membership of the College of Bangladesh and Surgeons (MCPS) degrees. 

But its current infrastructure and other facilities are very inadequate. 

That is why the project was approved to increase the institution's facilities, Mannan said. 

The Ecnec meeting approved 10 projects, including the BCPS one, involving Tk7,510 crore. One of them involves constructing a river port in Kurigram's Chilmari at an estimated cost of Tk235 crore.    

The port is expected to increase trade with different Indian states, including Assam. 

Mannan said Chilmari was once a famous port, but its importance decreased when the partition cut its link with Assam. 

Regional trade is growing now and Bangladesh has the opportunity to grow trade with India through the Chilmari port, he added.  

Other projects approved at the meeting include constructing the Nalua-Baherchar bridge on the River Payra and building Bakhrabad-Meghnaghat-Haripur gas transmission pipeline. 

The prime minister joined the meeting from her official residence Ganabhaban while ministers and secretaries did so from the National Economic Council conference room in the capital's Sher-e-Bangla Nagar.