Health Minister Samanta Lal Sen today said the government is taking initiatives to upgrade all public hospitals, including upazila, to reach healthcare services to the doorsteps of rural people.

"I'm taking the responsibility to ensure treatment facilities for commoners … It is very crucial to equip public hospitals with required manpower and updated version of technology," he told journalists after visiting M Abdur Rahim Medical College Hospital in Dinajpur.

The minister said doctors, who are attached to upazila and district-level hospitals, must provide treatment facilities to the people living in rural areas.

Jatiya Sangsad Whip Iqbalur Rahim, Health Secretary Mohammad Jahangir Alam, Director General of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Professor Abul Bashar Mohammad Khurshid Alam, Civil Surgeon Dr Borhanul Islam Siddiqui and Principal of Dinajpur M Abdur Rahim Medical College Hospital Dr Nuruzzaman, among others, were present on the occasion.

Samanta directed the authorities concerned to shut down all unregistered hospitals, diagnostic centres, and clinics.