Healthcare cost up by 68.5% in 2020: Study

Out-of-pocket healthcare expenditure stood at 68.5 per cent in 2020, rising by 1.5 per cent over 2015 when medical expense was 67 per cent, according to a study report unveiled on Sunday.

Of the expense, patients spend 64 per cent on drugs, 23 per cent on hospital bills and 8 per cent on diagnosis.

The Health Economic Unit under the Ministry of Health conducted the research.

It finds that due to the huge healthcare expenditure, 16.4 per cent patients refrain from seeking treatment even after having diseases.

The study suggested that the government increase health budget to address the issue, adding that the trend is going opposite to the government target set to reduce out-of-pocket expenditure by 32 per cent in 2032.

Health Minister Zahid Maleque was present at the report unveiling programme at Hotel InterContinental Dhaka as the chief guest.

He admitted that the patients expend a huge amount of their hard-earned money for getting treatment.

“Out-of-packet healthcare expenditure in Bangladesh is higher due to high price of medicine and excessive diagnostic tests among other reasons,” said the minister.

He pointed out that service charge in private hospitals is huge while medical staff has less efficiency which also pushes up healthcare costs.

“The government is working on how to reduce treatment costs. The physician should not prescribe unnecessary tests and medicines,” Zahid said, observing that people are becoming sicker because of taking huge antibiotics and effect of non-communicable diseases.

He emphasised the importance of taking nutritious food, maintaining healthy lifestyle, going for regular health checkup and checking environmental pollution to keep diseases at bay.

“The health sector gets only 2.4 per cent of the GDP which is quite lower compared to other countries,” said the minister.

In his address, Health Services Secretary Lokman Hossain Miah said the government has spent Tk 19,000 crore on the purchase of Covid-19 vaccine.

Lokman was present at the programme as a special guest.

The government has purchased 21 crore doses of vaccine while another eight crore are in process, he said.

Health Economics Unit Director General (Additional Secretary) Mohd Shahadt Hossain Mahmud also spoke, among others, at the event.