Cancer hospital in every division, aim to bring treatment to doorsteps in five years: health state minister
Photo: Collected
The government is working to bring cancer treatment to people’s doorsteps within the next five years, State Minister for Health and Family Welfare Dr MA Muhit has said.
He said breast, colorectal and oral cancers are generally the most common in the country. Awareness and the necessary measures at an early stage are very important to prevent them, and to that end primary healthcare workers will be given the necessary training.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the World Health Organization jointly organised a ‘national-level stakeholder consultation on strengthening cancer care in Bangladesh’ at a hotel in the capital on Saturday. The state minister said this while speaking as chief guest.
MA Muhit said the government has already announced that a cancer hospital will be built in every divisional city. Effective steps for cancer prevention, regular screening and access to quick diagnosis will also be ensured.
Noting that tackling cancer is not possible for the health ministry alone, he said it needs the coordinated involvement of the science and technology ministry, the food ministry and other relevant ministries. To that end the government will form a National Cancer Control Programme and a National Cancer Control Council, through which effective policies for cancer prevention and control and inter-ministerial coordination can be ensured.
Health Education Division secretary AKM Benjamin Riazi presided over the event, where Science and Technology Ministry secretary Md Anwar Hossain was special guest. Also present were Health Services Division additional secretary Sheikh Momena Moni, National Institute of Cancer Research and Hospital director Prof Dr Mostafa Aziz Sumon and World Health Organization representative Dr Anthony Eshofonie, among others.
Background
According to The Financial Express, Health Minister Sardar Md Sakhawat Hussain told parliament in June this year that the government is implementing a project to set up full-fledged 100-bed cancer treatment units at eight divisional government medical college hospitals.
By the numbers
According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) GLOBOCAN 2022 estimates cited in a Dhaka Tribune report of 23 October 2026, 1,67,256 new cancer cases were detected in the country in 2022, and 1,16,598 people died.
The same estimates put new breast cancer cases among women in 2022 at about 12,989, the most commonly detected cancer among women in the country.
Sources
Original report: BSS
Background sources: The Financial Express, June 2026; Dhaka Tribune, 23 October 2026
