A two-day workshop on 'Quality management in health' ended at Brae Centre at Mohakhali in the city yesterday.

James P Grant School of Public Health. Brae University with the support of the University of Heidelberg. Germany organised the workshop while GTZ Bangladesh was the sponsor.

Representatives from Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), National Institute of Population Research and ■framing (NIPORT), Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH). ICDDR.B, Pathfinder International, Engender Health. Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP), Marie Stopes Clinic Society and few other international organisations were present at the workshop.

Dr Shahaduz Zaman, coordinator, MPH programme, opened the floor by presenting the aim and vision of the workshop.

Prof Mushtaquc Chowdhury, dean of the James P Grant School of

Public Health, introduced the school and called for quality management in the health sector as an integral part of service delivery.

SJ Olivier from GTZ focused on the rationale of quality management in health in respect to affordability and equitability.

Sylvia Sax from University of Heidelberg, Germany underscored the need for improving quality in healthcare while Barbara Donaldson shared international experiences on how to set standards to improve quality.

SAJM Musa of DGHS summarised some of the outstanding successes as well as the challenges the country is facing presently like the differences in health conditions and healthcare consumption between different groups of population.

Director of DMCH Brig General Dr Md Abdus Shahid Khan spoke on the significant health inequities in management.

He added that private and public partnership has the potential to improve the management and reduce social inequalities.