SANGSAD BHABAN, Oct 25, 2018 (BSS) – The Communicable Diseases Prevention, Control and Eradication Bill, 2018 was passed in the Jatiya Sangsad today with a view to tackling any emergency situation related to public health by checking and eradicating all contagious diseases.
Health and Family Welfare Minister Mohammad Nasim moved the bill in the House which was unanimously passed by voice votes with Deputy Speaker Fazley Rabbi Mia in the chair.
Placing the bill, he said the draft of the proposed act was approved in the cabinet on August 20 in 2018.
The proposed bill will replace the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, the Public Health (Emergency Provisions) Ordinance, 1944, the Bangladesh Malaria Eradication Board (Repeal) Ordinance, 1977 and the Prevention of Malaria (Special Provisions) Ordinance, 1978, said the minister.
As per the draft law, the goal of the draft law is to protect people from communicable diseases as well as taking proper measures to create mass awareness about germs related diseases like Kala-zar, HIV, Influenza, Nipah, Ebola and Typhoid.
As per earlier directives of the Supreme Court that had declared all martial law regimes ordinances illegal, the draft law was placed before the Cabinet translating the original law in to Bangla as well as widening the area of its jurisdiction to cover all the contagious diseases.
Under the proposed law, a patient or the affected person will have to be screened and isolated to protect common people from being affected, it said.
The affected person will also have to be examined in the related and specified institutes to detect the type of disease. Earlier, the Communicable Diseases Prevention, Control and Eradication Bill, 2018 was placed in the parliament on September 17 in 2018 and then sent to the parliamentary standing committee for providing report after further scrutiny.