Social Welfare Minister and BNP Standing Committee member Prof Dr AZM Zahid Hossain has warned the Awami League against engaging in activities that could lead people to reject the party’s politics altogether.Your party is capable of carrying out arson violence. The violence you committed in front of Hotel Sheraton will never be forgotten by the people of Bangladesh. You shot and killed people there like birds, he said.Do not do anything that makes the people of Bangladesh stop allowing you to do politics in this country, the minister added.He was speaking as the chief guest at a discussion organised by the Diploma Medical Association of Bangladesh (D-MAB) to mark its first anniversary at the National Press Club’s Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam Auditorium in Dhaka at 3:00pm on Tuesday.Government prioritising public healthThe minister said ensuring public health is among the priorities of the current government, including that of the prime minister.Unless we can create a sense of motivation among all those involved in the health sector, it will not be possible to ensure healthcare for the people, he said.He said the government was committed to ensuring better health and normal living conditions for citizens and called for cooperation from healthcare workers to fulfil that commitment.Addressing the association’s demands, Zahid Hossain said the government would try to resolve problems related to recruitment rules and the proposed 10th-grade status for diploma medical professionals.Our prime minister does not support discrimination. Therefore, we will try to fulfil your legitimate demands, he said.He also said around 100,000 healthcare workers would be recruited in different grades and positions within this year.151-bed health complexes planned at upazila levelThe minister said the government plans to establish 151-bed upazila health complexes in all upazilas of the country.He acknowledged that ordinary citizens often have to spend large amounts of money on medical treatment and said the demand for recruiting medical assistants and healthcare workers was reasonable.He also pointed to employment opportunities for healthcare professionals in the private sector.Zahid Hossain urged diploma medical professionals to help raise public awareness about diseases, including measles.You are the healthcare workers closest to the people. I believe you will make people aware of measles and other such diseases, he said.Call for recruitment to vacant postsAdvocate Abdus Salam Pintu, MP for Tangail-1 and chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Food, said D-MAB was established a year ago.He said many poor and vulnerable people seek treatment from diploma medical professionals when they cannot afford or access specialist doctors.Pintu urged the government to make quick appointments to vacant positions and to posts currently occupied by what he described as fascists.The discussion was chaired by D-MAB Convener Md Shahidullah Siddiqui and moderated by its Member Secretary Md Hamidul Islam Bhuiyan. Among others, Prof Dr SM Rafiqul Islam, MP for Gazipur-3 Prof Dr Md Rafiqul Islam, BNP's health affairs secretary and Prof Dr Nazmul Hossain, director general of the Directorate General of Medical Education, addressed the event.