MALMESBURY restaurateur Badrul Amin’s bid to start a healthcare training centre in Bangladesh has won ministerial support.

He and a delegation from a British-based training firm were given a VIP welcome when they paid a visit to Dhaka to kick start the scheme that will help young jobless Bangladeshis earn recognised qualifications in the care industry.

They talked with representatives from the health, education, foreign and overseas employment ministries during a series of meetings, which resulted in offers of help with facilities and logistics.

Mr Amin, who has spent several years buying ex-NHS equipment at auction in Malmesbury and donating it to hospitals in the country where he was born, said he was overwhelmed by the response from the Bangladeshi government.

"To meet half-a-dozen ministers and permanent secretaries who are very powerful decision-making people – it was breathtaking and exhausting," he said.

"We hardly had time to breathe. "They could not have been more welcoming. It is only in the very early stages so to get such a VIP welcome was unprecedented."

Following the meetings the delegation toured several teaching hospitals and talked to medical and nursing staff.

The initiative, which made national television news in Bangladesh after it was highlighted by the Standard earlier this year, was suggested to Mr Amin by Abdul Matin Chowdhury, the country’s permanent secretary for expatriates, welfare and overseas employment.

It has already been given support by North Wiltshire MP James Gray and is aimed at giving educated young students and their families a way out of poverty by helping them to earn British National Vocational Qualifications in areas like home care, nursery nursing and catering.