Dhaka: Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) President Ashraf Ahmed has emphasized the urgent need for Bangladesh to enhance its quality medical services, improve customer satisfaction, and establish a more reliable healthcare system in both measurable indices and branding. His remarks were made during a seminar on 'Reversing the Outbound Healthcare Tourism' at the DCCI auditorium in Dhaka. According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, Ashraf highlighted the growing trend of middle-income households seeking healthcare services abroad, despite the availability of many treatments within the country. He pointed out that the local healthcare industry must focus on the entire ecosystem, which includes nurses, administration, and medical technologists, to enhance customer satisfaction. He also suggested being more open to foreign healthcare professionals to improve service quality. WTO data shows that 49 percent of Bangladesh's population lacks access to quality healthcare, which drives them to seek services abroad due to inadequate international standards domestically. Ashraf stressed the importance of advanced infrastructure and modern technology to improve the healthcare sector, along with increasing budgetary support, establishing international hospital chains, simplifying foreign healthcare professionals' registration processes, and offering tax exemptions to promote private hospitals in remote areas. Malik Talha Ismail Bari, in his keynote address, pointed out the insufficient budget allocation for healthcare, with only 3.78 percent of the total budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year. He noted that Bangladesh's per-capita health expenditure is significantly lower compared to the South Asian average. In 2021, health expenditure represented just 2.36 percent of Bangladesh's GDP. The seminar also highlighted that the lack of specialized treatment, trust, availability of advanced technology, and competitive pricing abroad are factors pushing local patients to seek healthcare services outside Bangladesh. The count ry's healthcare infrastructure includes 36 specialized hospitals and over 5,461 private hospitals and clinics, with a significant concentration in the Dhaka division, which strains resources and deprives rural areas of quality healthcare. National Professor Dr. A K Azad Khan emphasized the need for a proper plan to reverse the trend of outbound medical tourists. He advocated for lab standardization, increased budget allocation, research facilitation, and strengthening the BMDC. Other experts at the seminar echoed these sentiments, calling for improved registration processes for foreign doctors, the formation of a Health Service Commission, and the transformation of healthcare services into a viable health tourism industry. Dr. Abul Bashar Md. Jamal noted that while Bangladesh is a significant producer and exporter of medicines, it lags in medical device production. Dr. Mir Saaduddin Ahmad remarked on the healthcare sector's capability demonstrated during the Covid-19 pandemic, stressing the potential for fu rther development in Bangladesh's healthcare services.
