The number of patients going abroad for better treatment is increasing day by day due to the lack of better treatment facilities for complex diseases and the absence of proper care in the country amid the ongoing dollar crisis.
People are desperately trying to pursue medical visas to go to India, Thailand, Singapore and other countries as they don’t rely on the country’s health services.
The scenario is not unexpected as there is immense mismanagement, facility crises and technological limitations in public hospitals, while lack of quality service, trust and incidents of deception prevails in private ones.
The propensity of high-income people to go abroad is triggered by mismanagement in the country’s health sector. Even, people of middle and low-income brackets also want to go outside the country for better treatment. And in this way, the country’s foreign reserve is decreasing amid the ongoing dollar crisis.
Cancer patients of middle-income backgrounds go mainly to India for treatment purposes. Large numbers of Bangladeshi patients are visible in the medical centres of Kolkata, Mumbai, and Chennai.
Despite the increase in the outbreak of various diseases and the number of patients, there’s no visible advancement in making quality hospitals in the country. Private hospitals suffer from a lack of bed-crisis due to a huge number of admission-expecting patients.
Last two years, there was a restriction on going abroad due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the patient didn’t make it going to India as the land ports were closed. Hence, when the border at land ports was re-opened, the number of visa-expected people increased accordingly.
Surprisingly, there’s no government research regarding the treatment costs of outgoing patients. However, according to the study of some non-government organisations, around 7 lakh Bangladeshi people go outside the country for better treatment each year. They mainly go to India, while others go to Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia and some go to the countries of Europe and America. Patients and their relatives are spending around Tk 1,000 crore every year for medical purposes.
According to a report published in 2019, around 22 lakh Bangladeshis visited India that year, among which the maximum went for treatment purposes.
Some patients, who have taken treatment in foreign countries said they have no trust in the treatment facilities of the country as theirs is mismanagement, physician-crisis along with the non-supportive approach of the doctors and nurses.
Besides, there are no dependable treatment facilities for complex diseases like cancers, neuron, kidney, and liver-related diseases.
The experts in the sector said the main duty of the hospitals is to serve the patients in the best possible ways on which they can depend, but in maximum hospitals, they are pruned to suffer rather than getting proper service.
Many patients alleged that Intensive Care Unit (ICU) service is applied where it is sheer unnecessary. The bed crisis and the long queue of people waiting to get services irritate the patients. Hence, many of them can’t help going abroad.
The situation is much more severe outside Dhaka. The public hospitals lack sufficient treatment facilities and also the physician crisis.
Moreover, complaints of misconduct are raised against doctors and health workers in government hospitals. Even, the patients and their attendants engage in loggerheads with doctors and health workers. So, becoming fail in finding proper solutions for treatment, many of the patients are bound to go abroad, think health experts.
According to the reports of Earnest and Young (EY), 62 per cent of patients are going to India to get treatment for non-communicable diseases.
However, there’s no sufficient accord visible to develop the health service quality inside the country, despite the flow of patients going outside the country increases.
Each year people with sound financial capacity tend to go to renowned hospitals abroad. However, there’s no initiative to open branches or franchisees of these hospitals in Bangladesh. Two chain hospitals are providing their services in Bangladesh. These are — ‘Evercare’ and ‘AFC Health Fortis Heart Institute.’
Health experts urged the authorities concerned to introduce more and more international standard hospitals and provide facilities in the country to minimize the propensity of people going abroad for seeking better treatment.
@ The article was published on print and online versions of The Bangladesh Pratidin on November 4, 2022 and has been rewritten in English by Lutful Hoque and edited by Golam Rosul.
