With permission from Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Memorial Trust, there is no barrier to changing the name of Bangladesh Shishu Hospital and Institute (BSHI) to Sheikh Russel Child Health Institute and Hospital.
The memorial trust issued a permission letter to the secretary of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Saturday, more than a year after the proposal was made. The Business Post has obtained a copy of this document.
Referring to the letters sent to the memorial trust in September and October this year, the chief executive officer of the trust informed the secretary of approving the name on Saturday, sources said.
In Bangladesh, permission is needed from the memorial trust to use the name of any of the family members of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as any organisation's name.
The BSHI, established in 1972 as Dhaka Shishu Hospital, is the only government hospital dedicated to child health care in the country.
Shishu hospital sources said after the Bangladesh Shishu Hospital and Institute Bill 2021 was passed in September last year, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, in November last year, proposed the hospital be renamed after the youngest child of Bangabandhu.
The parliament agreed to the proposal, saying permission is crucial from the memorial trust to use the name and if they permit it can be done. Following the matter, the health ministry sent the letters this year.
“As the permission has been ensured, we now hope that the institute would get its new identity very soon,” said Dr Probir Kumar Sarker, an associate professor of the hospital.
