Some recent initiatives by the incumbent government, in line with its vision for the future, suggest that revitalising the country's ailing health sector is a top priority. An initiative has been taken to set up 170 city health centres across Dhaka and Chattogram to ensure affordable healthcare in urban areas. At the same time, the prime minister announced on Saturday that health facilities would be upgraded at the upazila level so that people do not have to travel to cities for specialised treatment. He said that the government aims to build an accessible, affordable, effective and humane healthcare system, and urged physicians working at the grassroots level to lend their support to this endeavour.
A recent report published in this newspaper further indicates that an ambitious plan is underway to roll out a comprehensive digital health system by integrating a wide range of eHealth services, including mobile health (mHealth), while expanding up to emerging areas such as big data analytics, genomics and artificial intelligence. The proposed system is expected to bring more than 114 existing digital health initiatives under a unified framework, alongside the deployment of new software and hardware, to deliver a five-tier structure of health, nutrition and population services, from community-level facilities to tertiary care. Overall, to strengthen the health sector, the Prime Minister said that budgetary allocation for this vital sector would be increased to 5.0 per cent of GDP.
The government's lofty vision for this sector, however, comes at a time when the country is facing a deadly measles outbreak that has killed nearly 200 children so far. Thousands of children are still battling with this deadly disease in hospitals, with reports of new infections and a rising death toll emerging by the day. Attributing the outbreak to the failure of the past two governments to vaccinate children, the prime minister rightly said that not ensuring measles vaccination for children was an "unforgivable crime". He also informed that the current government has already launched an emergency vaccination campaign to contain the outbreak. At the same time, the authorities should probe any lapses in measles vaccination in recent years, and those responsible must be held to account.
Overall, when the government has given a long list of what it has done and is going to do, the ground reality in the health sector is not very reassuring and reports coming from time to time indicate that there is a long way to go before the health sector assumes a truly pro-people character. For example, the premier exhorted physicians posted in rural areas to support the government's effort to bring the rural populace under modern healthcare service. But it must be remembered that such exhortations often fall on deaf ears, and the rural people do not get proper healthcare on many occasions due to negligence on the part of physicians. Too often the media reports that rural health centres are running without a physician. Moreover, important medical equipment often lies completely inoperative for a lack of timely repair or replacement. Thus, doctors' absenteeism and inoperative medical equipment often push patients to private clinics only to buy medical services at a high cost. The government, therefore, while thinking big, should also not forget to pay attention to smaller things which can make a big difference in ensuring affordable medical services to the people.
