Government should reduce health expenditure for public benefit

Health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being, and for developing a country health condition should increase, and for increasing public health condition government should reduce health cost. But in Bangladesh, the expenditure on health cost has been escalating day by day. For bearing this extra medical treatment people are suffering a lot.

According to a report, published yesterday (16 July) 61 percent of people in the country face financial crisis to get medical treatment. Due to health expenditure 61 lakh 30 thousand people of the country have fallen below the poverty line, which is 3.7 percent of the total poverty. About 27 percent among them are forced to take loans for health care. These data have come out in a study titled 'Poverty in Bangladesh as a result of catastrophic health shocks' by Bangladesh Development Research Institute (BIDS).

Financial hardship is a major concern for patients who are suffering from long-term underlying health conditions. For conditions requiring lengthy treatments, like cancer, patients and their attendants often have to stay away from work, thus negatively impacting their professional positions. And the worst news, according to the report, Bangladesh spends the second highest amount on health care in the world. 73 percent of the cost of this service in the country is paid by people from their own pockets. There is no much government support or health insurance for the people.

Bangladesh aims to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC) by 2030. This means that all citizens of the country would have access to quality healthcare and financial protection. Undoubtedly, this is a much-needed initiative to achieve our Sustainable Development Goals. The right to healthcare is protected in the Constitution of Bangladesh. However, despite considerable development in this sector over the last decade, the nation is still far from ensuring quality healthcare for all.

The health care budget of Bangladesh is poor already, in this fiscal year the health sector got only 5% of the total budget, moreover, significant portion of the healthcare budget fails to reach target citizens due to corruption, wrong priority setting. So poor people are deprived from proper treatment in every way. We urge the government to take comprehensive measures to reduce health cost for public benefit.