Narayanganj, Sept 16 – Mentioning that there are only nine doctors against 141 approved posts in jails across the country, Inspector General (Prisons) Brig Gen AKM Mustafa Kamal Pasha on Monday said the doctor crisis will be resolved soon. There are currently 88,149 inmates in the 68 prisons across the country. The number of prisoners is more than double their capacity.
Only the Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj has two doctors, while the prisons in Kashimpur, Narayanganj, Chittagong, Sylhet, Barisal, Gazipur and Comilla have one doctor each, according to the department.
Officials said the department has been writing to the home and health ministries regarding the crisis for years but to no avail.
“As per the directives of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, efforts are on to resolve the healthcare crisis at all prisons. We hope the crisis will be resolved soon,” he said.
The IG (Prisons) was talking to reporters after inaugurating a number of projects at Narayanganj District Jail in the afternoon.
He said they have already discussed the issue with the home, and health and family welfare ministries.
Pasha said the process to transform prisons into correctional centres is on so that prisoners do not feel that they are in jails.
The allotment for improved meals has been increased to 150 from Tk 30, he said.
Besides, the monthly wages of prisoners for cleaning work has increased from Tk 20 to 500 and they get 50 percent of the profits from the sales of garment and jamdani products.
Deputy Inspector General (Prisons) Tipu Sultan, Jail Super Subhas Kumar Ghosh, Jailer Shah Rafiqul Islam and Deputy Women Jailer Tania Zaman were present on the occasion. – UNB
