Health and Family Welfare Minister Zahid Maleque has acknowledged that scarcity of manpower remains a major challenge to ensure progress in the country’s health sector.

"There are approximately 70,000 beds in the country's public hospitals and we need trained workforce to manage those efficiently," Maleque said this while talking to reporters at his Secretariat office in Dhaka on Monday.

“Universal health coverage is being hampered due to the absence of skilled manpower,” he added.

Despite the shortage of skilled manpower, Bangladesh has achieved a historic milestone by becoming the first country in the world to eliminate visceral leishmaniasis known as kala-azar or black fever.

He also praised Saima Wazed as she has been elected Regional Director of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) for the South-East Asia region.