EVEN though the authorities claim the outstanding success in healthcare improvement, but due to the high rise medical expenses, particularly for non-communicable diseases, the country’s poor people are being deprived of getting the ultimate benefit of the said success. The recent study found that out-of-pocket (OOP) health expenditure is as high as 67 percent of the total healthcare cost in Bangladesh, which is the highest in South and Southeast Asia while the global average is 32 percent. In contrast to the poverty reduction success, the OOP expenditures push four to five million people into poverty every year in the country. As public health facilities are not fully equipped with the logistics and human resource and are often riddled with irregularities, healthcare service is largely provided by the country’s mostly unregulated private sector.
Over 63 percent of households seek healthcare services from the private sector. Drugs cost comprises of a large part of the total healthcare cost but drugs price is almost beyond government control. There is a nexus between a section of pharmaceutical companies and the healthcare providers. Unnecessary tests are often advised due to collaboration between diagnostic centres and physicians. The beneficiaries of the system include government and private doctors, other health workers, medicine sellers and brokers. The amount of Commission varies from 25 to 50 percent of the cost of the service. According to icddr,b, NCDs: heart, lung or kidney conditions, diabetes and cancer, account for an estimated 59 percent of the total deaths each year.
We think if the public hospitals in the union and upazila level were functional with adequate health personnel and logistics, much of the problems faced today by the people would have been solved automatically. But first of all it will need to curb corruption with strong hand. Corruption is deep rooted in the health sector.
