Dhaka 6 February 2025:
Concern was raised on the high out-of-pocket expense burden of healthcare and the need to understand how much of this burden was for healthcare itself and how much for unethical commercial motives.
The role of the private sector is critical in Bangladesh’s pluralistic healthcare landscape in attaining Universal Health Coverage (UHC) for the country.
These views were derived from the UHC workshop titled “Engaging Private Healthcare in the Agenda in Bangladesh” was organized by Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC) in partnership with the UHC Forum and supported by UNICEF Bangladesh held on Thursday in the city.
Speakers opined private healthcare is often a misnomer because non-government providers can include for-profit entities, entities with a social business model, NGO providers and also informal workers.
According to them, a key gap identified was the need for accreditation of hospitals, doctors and labs to ensure quality, data sharing, monitoring and pursuit of suitable public-private partnerships to advance the UHC agenda.
For healthy regulation and engagement of the private sector, discussants raised the need for an overarching law and an umbrella body in the form a Health Commission or a health security office.
Participants agreed that people’s demand for healthcare was no longer limited to access only but also extended to affordability and quality.
The multi-stakeholder debate, thirst in a flagship series of the UHC Forum was chaired and moderated by PPRC Chairman and UHC Forum Convener Hossain Zillur Rahman, while participants in the debate included Professor Liaquat Ali of Health Reform Commission, Dr AM Shamim, MD, Labaid, Dr. Lutfor Rahman, Chief Medical Planner, Grameen Telecom Trust, Prof. Dr. Emran Bin Yunus, Neurologist and Director, CSCR, Chittagong, Dr. Md. Moinul Ahsan, Director (Hospital), DGHS, ; Prof. Dr Abul Kalam Azad, Former DG-Health, Dr Md. Aminul Hasan, UHC Forum, Dr. Shaila Purvin, CEO, Surjer Hashi Network, Md. Zainal Abedin Tito, Line Director (HSM), DGHS, Dr Manzur Kadir Ahmed, Senior Director, Gonoshasthaya Kendra, Shadab Mahmud, Sensiv Diagnostics Lab, Prof Khondaker A Mamun, CMED Health, Dr Iqbal Anwar, ICDDR,B, Mohan Raihan, Saaol Heart Centre, Dr. Atiya Sharmeen, MSF, Dr. Aftabuddin, Chairperson, PHF, Nahid Akhter Jahan, IHE, DU, Maya Vandecent, UNICEF.
There is also a contradiction between exaggerated expectations for services and poor levels of health funding.
According to the press release, the private healthcare sector also lacks robust self-governance to improve quality of services and the standards of medical education.
To enhance private-public partnerships, participants discussed models where public hospitals collaborate with private providers for service delivery and equipment procurement.
There was a call for a universal regulatory body to standardize pricing, enforce quality accreditation, and establish a grievance mechanism for patients.
The workshop also stressed the need for innovative digital healthcare solutions. It was stressed that healthcare is fundamentally about management, and leveraging data is essential for accountability, efficiency, and service expansion.
In conclusion, Hossain Zillur Rahman stressed the importance of looking for healthy and sound collaboration areas between the public and private sectors instead of getting stuck in a blame-game mindset. How to incentivize private sector participation in primary healthcare should also be a priority as also health promotion.
For the new aspirations unleashed by the popular uprising of July-August 2024, all stakeholders have to make concerted and collaborative efforts to elevate health into a compelling national agenda with sound actionable plans and policy approaches.
Discussions highlights will be shared with the Health Reform Commission.
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