Health sector needs more attention

Despite remarkable progress in the health sector in the country the right to medical facilities, a basic right, is still out of reach of the majority of Bangladeshis. The country is lagging behind in the health sector. Much has been written on the sector but we have made little progress in terms of health for all. As a result people, especially people with limited income, are being deprived of one of their basic rights.

Treatment of heart disease is not available to the expected degree across the country leading to a lot of deaths that can easily be averted if each district has the facility for the treatment of heart disease. A report published in The Business Post on December 14 portrayed a grim picture of heart disease treatment in the country.

The report stated that 59 out of 64 districts have no cardiac treatment facility. It can easily be assumed what might happen if one has a cardiac attack in a remote village of a small district. The patients in most cases die premature deaths on their way to hospital in the capital. Some of them can survive the attack but they have to pay dearly both physically and economically.

It is frustrating to note that only 29 hospitals in five districts have the necessary equipment needed to conduct cardiovascular surgery. Again of those 29 hospitals 21 are located in the capital, four in Chattogram, two in Khulna and one each in Sylhet and Sirajganj. The government effort is also scanty as whatever it does is mostly limited to Dhaka.

The National Institute of Cardiovascular Disease (NICVD) located at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in the capital has to endure immense pressure every day. The government has recently increased the number of seats to 1400 from that of only 400 at the NICVD. Bangabandhu Shekih Mujuib Medical University (BSMMU) Vice-Chancellor Professor MD Sharfuddin Ahmed told The Business Post: “Decentralization of cardiac treatment facility has now become a must to reduce the number of deaths of cardiac patient.”

The good news is that the government has undertaken projects to set up modern hospital in eight divisional cities with full-fledged cardiac, kidney and cancer units having skilled doctors, nurses and staff. However, the picture of the cardiac treatment is still really awful as out of those 21 hospitals only 16 are able to carry out cardiac surgery. Moreover the money charged from a patient for such treatment is over Tk3, 00000 at private hospitals which is impossible for commoners to pay.

Despite world-class cardiac treatment it is really mind-boggling to imagine that we have only 1, 100 cardiologists and 250 cardiac surgeons for about 17 crore people let alone heart transplant facility. It means we have one cardiologist for 1.50 lakh people and one cardiac surgeon for 6.60 lakh people.

If the treatment cannot be decentralized, if the number of cardiologists and cardiac surgeons cannot be increased and if heart transplant facility cannot be ensured we have to see more and more preventable deaths that are not desirable. Although our health system is facing multifaceted challenges like lack of number of doctors and hospitals, public health facilities, skilled workforces and adequate financial resources Bangladesh has progressed in health related Millennium Development Goal. But still the country has a lot to do in this sector to save people’s lives.

Although the country has a growing number of private hospitals they are still at the basic level which is not enough to provide treatment to complicated patients of cardiac disease. The government has to formulate a comprehensive policy on the health sector very soon. The development in this sector will not only save people’s lives it will also save foreign currency by preventing people from going abroad for better treatment.