A BIOGRAPHY OF ZAFRULLAH CHOWDHURY

The Beautiful Story Behind the Name, “Gonoshasthaya Kendra”

After the independence of the nation, Zafrullah Chowdhury immediately started his work for the war wounded and the rural health sector. He was completely aware of the miserable healthcare state of his war-torn country. So, he decided to convert the “Bangladesh Field Hospital” into a healthcare institute. 

As Dr. Zafrullah was quite confident about his proposal, he presented the report in Dhaka titled “Basic Health Care in Rural Area” in April 1972. The concept paper turned into one of the foundations of subsequent international discussions on the primary healthcare sector. But the obstacle stood in his path as the then Government of Bangladesh objected to the name. According to the then Bangladesh government the name of the field hospital was set to recommence operations in the independent country. The objection made Dr. Zafrullah tremendously frustrated. He directly went to complain to President Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Dr. Zafrullah made the complaint “Mujib Bhai, they are not allowing us to build  Bangladesh Field Hospital”. Bangabandhu listened to him very carefully. Then he explained, “If the name contains ‘Bangladesh’, it sounds like a government hospital”. So, he suggested Dr. Zafrullah find another beautiful name for his dream hospital. But the option seemed to Dr. Zafrullah quite complicated as he didn’t have much idea what would be the appropriate one. So, Bangabandhu offered him a new way. “You come up with three names, and I will come up with three. We will select the best one through discussion”. That’s how Dr. Zafrullah found a relief to solve the riddle. 

Next meeting, Dr. Zafrullah came up with the list. He started to read out of his list, Bangladesh Field Hospital, Gonoshasthaya Kendra..”, there Banglabandhu interrupted him hastily. He said abruptly, “Gonoshasthaya Kendra is a beautiful name. It will be the name of the hospital. Ganashasthaya Kendra will not only provide treatment, but it will also have to work on health, agriculture and education”. The father of the nation just did not hold himself by keeping the name. He also contributed 23 acres of land for the hospital. MA Rab (a joint secretary), Zohra Begum, and Lutfor Rahman donated five acres of land for the hospital from the family properties in Savar. On the end of despair, Gonoshasthaya Kendra finally began its journey officially on the last Sunday of 1972. 

From its very early days, the institute introduced a health insurance system. The branches of Dhaka charge only Tk 200 for delivery per patient whereas its actual cesarean process costs nearly Tk 12,000-14,000 without any additional charges in the name of doctor’s fees, pathological tests, and medicine. In contrast to private hospitals, GK always suggests its pregnant patients undergo normal delivery unless it is required because of their medical condition. The cost of all the pathological tests is half that of any private hospital. Since 1981, the institute also launched “Gonoshasthaya Pharmaceutical” which still sustains drugs that are quite less expensive than private pharmaceuticals. Besides Savar, Gonoshasthaya Nagar Hospital was also structured on Mirpur Road, Dhaka. Till now, GK operates about 50 branches of health centers in both rural and suburban areas of Bangladesh. 

Gonoshasthaya Kendra and Wajed Mia

In 1996, when Sheikh Hasina became the prime minister of Bangladesh, her husband Wajed Mia determined to retire from the Atomic Energy Commission as its chairman. After that, Wajed Mia was immensely interested in serving the nation through Gonoshasthaya Kendra. So, he went to Zafrullah Chowdhury to express his willingness. But then something interesting happened. Dr. Zafrullah put a condition on Wajed Mia. As he was a chain smoker, that became a barrier between his will. So, Wajed quit smoking just within a month to join Gonoshasthaya Kendra. That’s how, finally he joined as a Science Adviser of Gonoshasthaya Kendra. 

Gonoshasthaya Kendra, A Base of Women Empowerment

In Gonoshasthaya Kendra, women are considered the strength of the hospital as almost one-third of the human force of the hospital are women. That created a huge opportunity for Dr. Zafrullah to empower women. He shattered all the fixed notions of society that women could or could not do. He encouraged women to participate in unconventional works such as employing them as carpenters, electricians, welders, and so on. In 1982, he created a revolutionary change as many of them were appointed as GK’s large truck drivers which was even beyond imagination to the then society. Currently, the hospital employs 2,500 people and 40 percent of them are women. That’s how Gonoshastheya Kendra not just changed the rural healthcare picture of the country but the thousands of women’s fate as well. 

National Drug Policy

After the independence of the country, Zafrullah Chowdhury found a miserable state in the healthcare sector. He came to know that almost 4000 commercial drugs were accessible in the market. Most of them were imported from abroad or manufactured by multinational companies. That’s why a large number of drugs were out of reach for the majority of common people. It was even shocking that some of these were unnecessary and dangerous whereas the most required 150 remained in lack of supply. To change the devastated state of the sector, Zafrullah Chowdhury formulated the Bangladesh National Drug Policy in 1982. Following all the guidelines by the World Health Organization (WHO), the policy restricted the limitation to 225. Soon, the National Drug Policy changed the whole picture as the price of the drugs was not just reduced drastically. Rather Bangladesh stepped into drug exportation as well.  

Contributions in Bangladesh 

In 1972, Dr. Zafrullah became the member and chairperson of the “Founding Meeting of Freedom Fighters” to establish the “Freedom Fighters National Council (Muktijoddha Sangsad). After the independence of the country, the government took some steps to initiate proactive measures and policies to uplift women’s development. That’s why in 1980, a Commission for the Development of Women was set up by late President Ziaur Rahman and Dr. Zafrullah became one of the active members of the association. In 1982, an Expert Committee titled “Bangladesh National Drug Policy” was formulated to enhance the local production of pharmaceuticals, eliminate harmful and non-essential drugs, improve the quality of drugs, and regulate the prices and imports. Dr. Zafrullah was an honorable member of the committee as he contributed his best to uplift the pharmaceutical sector of the land. He was also the chairman of “Gonomudran Ltd, a printing and publishing company that had a 100% share of all Gonoshasthaya Companies owned by Gonoshasthaya Charitable Trust. 

Dr. Zafrullah was the chairman of Gonoshasthaya Grameen Textile Mills Ltd, a program joint venture of Grameen Bank and Gonoshasthaya Kendra for the development of handloom weavers in Bangladesh. He was also an honorable life member of the “Bangladesh Private Medical Practitioners Association (BPMPA). Dr. Zafruallah was a senior fellow at the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) and advisor of the FNB (Federation of NGOs in Bangladesh) as well. 

Contributions Outside Bangladesh 

Just like an honorable personality of the country, Dr. Zafrullah Chowdhury has collaborated with many prestigious international associations as well. He was the founder member of the South-South Solidarity, New Delhi, India, and Health Action International (HAI), Executive Board, HAI-Asia Pacific. Dr. Zafrullah was also a respected member of the Executive Committee, Innovations et Reseaux Pour Le Development (IRED), Development Innovations and Network, Geneva, Switzerland, IDEA Health, WHO and MALAM (Medical Lobby for Appropriate Marketing), Australia. The Governing Council of People’s Health Movement (PHM) and the UN Task Force on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) honored him with their membership as well. 

Articles/Publications

Besides collaborating with multiple prestigious organizations, Zafrullah Chowdhury co-authored several articles and publications as well. His articles were published in numerous reputed national and international journals. An article titled ‘Tubectomy by Paraprofessional Surgeons in Rural Bangladesh’ was co-authored by him and published on 27 September 1975 in the Lancet. The article was based on the experience of mini-laparotomy by female paramedics. His article “Research: A Method of Colonization” was translated into several languages Bengali, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, and Indian languages published in 1977. Jeliffe’s “Textbook of Paediatrics for Tropics and Sub-tropics” also included an article by Zafrullah Chowdhury published by J. Arnold, in the UK in 1991. One of his famous books “The Politics of Essential Drugs: The Making of a Successful Health Strategy: Lessons from Bangladesh” was published by Zed Books Ltd. of London, UK, in 1995. Next year, the Indian edition of the book was published in New Delhi by Sage Publishers. In 1997, the edition of Bangladesh was published by University Publishers Ltd. 

Dr. Zafrullah also co-authored another notable book “Achieving the Millennium Development Goal on Maternal Mortality: Gonoshasthaya Kendra’s Experience in Rural Bangladesh” published by Gono Prokashoni in 2007. After two years, in 2009, he co-authored “The People’s Health Centres: Building Primary Health Care in Bangladesh” published by Oxford University Press, Oxford & New York. The article featured by Daniel Perlman and Ananya Roy in “The Practice of International Health: A Case Based Orientation”.