Never dreamt of becoming a minister: Samanta Lal Sen

Health Minister Dr Samanta Lal Sen today said he had never thought that he would become a minister one day.

"A sudden telephone call turned my life around," he said as chief guest while attending the traditional Ratha Yatra in Dhaka's Dhamrai upazila this afternoon.

Expressing his desire to take health services to the grassroots, the minister said, "If I can make the upazila health complex, community clinic, and trauma centre self-supporting, then the service seekers will not go to Dhaka."

National Institute of Traumatology & Orthopaedic Rehabilitation is filled to the brim with patients who could have turned towards local trauma centres if they were of superior quality, he said.

The same goes for upazila health complex where expectant mothers could seek maternity services such as examination and delivery.

"Dhamrai Upazila Health Complex should have been converted to a 100-bed hospital long ago," he said, adding that on this day 25 years ago he underwent a surgery there.

Earlier Samanta officially inaugurated the Ratha Yatra. Indian High Commissioner Pranay Kumar Verma, Dhaka-20 MP Benazir Ahmed, former Dhaka-20 MP MA Malek, among others, were present at the event.