Dr. S.M. Zahedul Islam Chowdhury was interviewed by ICE Business Times
In a conversation, Dr. S M Zahedul Islam Chowdhury, Research Fellow, Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), explicates the necessary reforms required in our healthcare sector, the future of the agriculture sector and how Special Economic Zones (SEZs) can transform Bangladesh.
According to a recent report of the Health Economics Unit of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, 68.5% of an average Bangladeshi patient’s total health spending is out-of-pocket expenditure. What policy reforms would you suggest to ensure a more affordable and efficient healthcare system?
Our current healthcare system is riddled with numerous problems. The inefficiency and inadequacy force people to seek private medical services, contributing to the staggering out-of-pocket expenses. Despite being an essential sector, the inadequacy of the government healthcare system has proved fatal for the lower-income segment of our population.
The primary reason for the healthcare system’s shortcomings has been poor administrative oversight. We need to overhaul our health administration by focusing more on monitoring and allocating resources effectively. If we want to reduce patients’ out-of-pocket expenses, there is no alternative to facilitating holistic healthcare support for the aggregate population. Subsequently, the idea of health insurance is relatively obscure among our people, and existing services leave a lot to be desired. It is a stark contrast from the nations where health insurance bears a significant portion of the patients’ healthcare expenses. Therefore, an overhaul of our government healthcare services and the availability of effective insurance policies will drastically reduce out-of-pocket healthcare expenses for our population......more