Photo: Collected
Dhaka, 21 September 2026 (BSS): The present government has taken an initiative to open, as quickly as possible, 24 trauma centres that have been lying unused for years beside the country’s highways.
At the same time, an initiative has also been taken to launch a 24-hour ambulance network across the country.
These long-idle facilities will be modernised and opened under the name ‘Accident and Emergency Treatment Centre’. Medical services will begin in phases at all 24 centres after ensuring the necessary doctors, nurses, medical equipment and other logistics.
The directive to open these centres was given at a meeting of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman with health ministry officials on 12 August.
The meeting decided that the existing 24 trauma centres will be renamed ‘Accident and Emergency Treatment Centre’ and that new ‘Accident and Emergency Treatment Centres’ will be established through a project on vacant land beside roads and highways in consultation with the Road Transport and Highways Division.
The prime minister also directed at the meeting that the cost of X-ray machines, ambulances and equipment, as required, must be met from the approved budget of the Health Services Division.
These 24 trauma centres were opened at different times beside the country’s important highways to ensure quick treatment for those injured in road accidents close to the accident site.
The aim was to reduce loss of life by bringing the injured under treatment quickly. But these centres have been lying unused for years for want of the necessary manpower, medical equipment and administrative approval.
According to health department sources, initiatives were taken to build 10 trauma centres in the 2004-05 fiscal year and 14 more in 2010 beside the country’s important highways.
Of these, only two have outpatient departments running on a limited scale. One is being used as part of the orthopaedics department of the district hospital concerned.
They were built especially to provide quick treatment to patients with serious injuries to the head, chest, spine and bones.
There was a plan to set up a 20-bed ICU and a 40-bed isolation centre in the three-storey building.
One such centre is the Mulibari Trauma Centre in Sirajganj Sadar. It was built in 2020 at a cost of about Tk 11 crore to provide immediate services to those injured in accidents on the Dhaka-Rajshahi-Rangpur highway.
After lying unused for six years, the centre was temporarily opened for 14 days from 21 May to serve those injured in road accidents during the last Eid-ul-Azha. Later it shut down again.
The centres are located at different places in the country including Atgharia in Pabna, Sherpur in Bogura, Sirajganj Sadar and Ullapara, Bhairab in Kishoreganj, Gopalganj Sadar, Shibchar in Madaripur, Shibalaya in Manikganj, Zajira in Shariatpur, Bhanga (Madhukhali) in Faridpur, Sreenagar in Munshiganj, Dhamrai in Dhaka, Elenga in Tangail, Lohagara, Hathazari and Raozan in Chattogram, Daudkandi in Cumilla, Bhaluka in Mymensingh, Chhatak in Sunamganj and Bahubal in Habiganj.
According to the original plan, each trauma centre was supposed to have a total of 14 doctors, including seven consultants, three orthopaedic surgeons, two anaesthetists and two resident medical officers.
In addition, each centre was supposed to have 10 nurses along with pharmacists, radiographers and other technicians.
But no appointments were made at any centre in line with the proposed manpower structure.
In this regard, State Minister for Health Dr M A Muhit told BSS, ‘We have taken an initiative to open twenty-four trauma centres centring on the highways. Very soon these will be converted into “Accident and Emergency Centres”. To ensure quick emergency treatment in road accidents, a coordinated network is being built with ambulances and trained volunteers on motorcycles.
We are working with the aim of running it in future as a sustainable part of our regular health system.’
