Photo: Collected
Prime Bank PLC has renewed its strategic partnership with the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b) to keep essential healthcare running for tuberculosis (TB) patients and presumptive and diagnosed cases in Sylhet. Under it, the bank will provide financial support until 31 August 2027 to run the Sylhet TB Screening and Treatment Centre (TBSTC).
This was stated in a Prime Bank press release on Thursday.
According to the release, the renewed agreement will keep TB detection, screening and treatment services uninterrupted for underprivileged and vulnerable people in society. The initiative follows a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed in September 2025.
From September 2025 to August 2026, a total of 15,338 people came to the centre for services with TB symptoms. Of them, 1,843 were diagnosed with TB. With the approved funding, detection, screening and treatment services at the centre can be kept running without interruption for the next year.
At a recent event at Prime Bank’s head office in Dhaka, the renewed MoU was signed by the bank’s Additional Managing Director and Chief Risk Officer Md Ziaur Rahman and icddr,b Acting Executive Director Namdi Chukwuma Nnadozie. Senior officials of both organisations were present.
On the partnership, Md Ziaur Rahman said, ‘Prime Bank believes that access to necessary healthcare in time is a basic right of every person. This partnership with icddr,b has created an opportunity to play an effective role in preventing and controlling TB in Sylhet. As a result, thousands of patients will receive the necessary screening, diagnosis and treatment, which will help them return to a healthy life.’
Through this initiative, Prime Bank has reaffirmed its commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR) and public health development. The release said the bank is committed to further strengthening TB prevention, detection and treatment in the country together with icddr,b.
By the numbers
According to Directorate General of Health Services data, 278,607 TB patients were detected in the country from January to October 2025, of whom 1,258 had drug-resistant TB, Bangla Tribune reported on 24 December 2025.
At a glance
The same Bangla Tribune report said the National Tuberculosis Control Programme (NTP) had fallen into crisis after funding from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) stopped.
Sources
Original report: Ajker Patrika
Background sources: Bangla Tribune, 24 December 2025
