The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) today launched a nationwide cleanliness drive across government hospitals and health facilities ahead of the government's completion of 180 days in office next month.

The campaign began this morning at upazila health complexes, district hospitals, medical college hospitals and specialised hospitals under the supervision of upazila health and family planning officers, civil surgeons, divisional directors and hospital directors.

The drive follows a directive issued by the DGHS on Thursday, which was confirmed to The Daily Star today by Abu Hossain Md Moinul Ahsan, director (hospitals and clinics) of the DGHS.

Under the directive, directors of medical colleges and specialised hospitals have been instructed to conduct cleanliness drives every Saturday and ensure that their facilities remain clean at all times. Heads of all government health facilities have also been made responsible for maintaining cleanliness, while higher authorities have been asked to monitor compliance regularly.

The directive requires divisional directors (health) to inspect district headquarters hospitals on scheduled dates and submit inspection reports, along with photographs, to the health minister, health secretary, DGHS director general, director (administration) and director (hospitals and clinics).

Civil surgeons have likewise been instructed to inspect upazila health complexes every Saturday according to a fixed schedule and submit detailed reports with photographs to the same authorities.

The DGHS has also directed all health service institutions to make their biometric attendance systems operational and ensure regular biometric attendance by August 17.

It warned that heads of institutions would be held responsible if they failed to implement the biometric attendance system within the stipulated deadline.