People's share in medical cost must fall to 30pc
Individual health cost must come down to 30 percent from the existing 67 percent in order to achieve the health related Sustainable Development Goal (SDG).
"It is essential to raise government allocation to the health sector to reduce the out-of-pocket (OOP) expenditure to 30 percent from 67 to attain sustainable progress towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and health- related SDG," Director General (additional secretary) of Health Economics Unit M Ashadul Islam told the news agency.
The government bears only 23 percent of total health expenditures while three percent comes from voluntary payment schemes and seven percent from foreign donor agencies, he added. "The government allocation to the health sector is increasing gradually every year, but it is not sufficient and finally the people have to spend a major portion of the health expenditure from their own pockets," Islam said.
According to Bangladesh National Health Accounts (BNHA) 1997-2015, the government's share on the total health expenditure (THE) kept on declining as the medical costs, including of medicines and hospital services, have become costlier.
"To minimise the gap between the public expenditure and the OOP, the government has embarked on the largest health sector programme worth Tk 1,15,486 core for the fourth Health, Nutrition and Population (HNP) Sector Programme-2017-2021 -- 126 percent higher than the third one," said Additional Secretary (development) of Health Services Division Harun-ur-Rashid Khan.
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