Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Samanta Lal Sen has said that talks would be meaningless if quality health service is not ensured in rural areas.
He came up with the statement at a seminar on Monday when a study shows financial hardship is worsening in the country due to the increases in out-of-pocket health spending.
Around 3.7 per cent of the population, which is equivalent to 6.13 million people, was pushed below the national poverty line in 2022. About 61 per cent of people faced financial distress due to hospitalisation, according to the Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2022 (HIES).
"I believe if I can't ensure proper health care of the people at the marginal level, no matter how much I sit and give lectures in Dhaka, it will be of no use," Dr Sen said.
"I give top priority to improving health care in rural and marginal areas."
The seminar titled "Catastrophic Health Shocks and Impoverishment in Bangladesh: Insights from HIES 2022" was organised by the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS).
BIDS Director General Binayak Sen presided over the seminar where the main presentation was delivered by BIDS research fellow Abdur Razzaque Sarker.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Sen also said that he inspected health services for the past forty-eight hours in health complexes, district hospitals and community clinics in Panchagarh, Dinajpur, Thakurgaon and Nilphamari.
He further said he found worrying levels of hypertension and diabetes patients up to 60 per cent. His ministry was providing medicine to the rural patients.
"If we can provide proper treatment and medicine for blood pressure, diabetes, there will be no need for such big specialised hospitals in Dhaka city," he added.
He has suggested taking projects that would benefit people, such as cancer hospitals, kidney hospitals, heart hospitals, etc.
"It is my aim to ensure proper treatment of Burn Unit, Cancer, Cardiac and nephrology in every divisional city."
"It is not possible for a poor person to come from Rangpur to Dhaka for dialysis […]. Many things can be done if we take advantage of the allocation given in the health sector," the minister continued.
Regarding the indiscriminate use of antibiotics, Dr Sen said that antibiotics are being used only if there is a slight cold and fever without prescription.
"We're trying to introduce a digital prescription system to stop the sale of antibiotics without prescription. If an electronic prescription system can be introduced then proper monitoring will be possible, arbitrary and excessive use of drugs can be controlled," he said.
Abdur Razzaque said the people of Bangladesh have the highest 77.2 per cent out-of-pocket (OOP) expenditure among the south Asian nations after Afghanistan. Even Pakistan has better OOP than Bangladesh.
Meanwhile, medicine cost is the major cost driver both for outpatients and hospitalisation cases.
From the marginal effect analysis, the presentation found that households with at least one hospitalisation case incurred incremental OOP payment of Tk 55,134 compared to households with no hospitalisation case.
Bangladesh is committed to achieving the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) to ensure healthcare for all. The health minister promised to introduce the UHC in the country.
nsrafsanju@gmail.com