Health Services Act needed to ensure quality of care

With the remarkable success of achieving the targets of Millennium Development Goals and government commitments to attain the targets of Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, there are efforts to improve the quality of services with the expansion of coverage of service delivery in the health sector. Unfortunately, quality of health care services could not yet earn people's confidence although investment increased significantly and enough initiatives taken to overcome impediments.

Major challenge at present is to ensure quality of services and provide services to all irrespective of urban or rural divide and poor and rich. In spite of large investment in building infrastructure, recruitment of huge numbers of staffs including 6,000 of additional nurses and other service providers and procurement of medical equipment, there are wide scale allegations about the quality of services that remained poor and unsatisfactory. The common perception is that quality of services and efficiency of service providers and expertise of doctors must improve to gain the confidence of public at large. Patients, having the ability are going abroad for treatment even for minor ailment.

In view of such a crisis of efforts and realities, the Law Commission is thinking to formulate a law regulating quality health care services to ensure health rights and bring health services providers under certain rules to enforce the discipline. The idea is to establish a National Health Commission and start some tribunals to mitigate contradiction and difference between doctors and patients, management and hospital authorities and create an environment of accountability and transparency in the health care delivery system.

According to an authentic source from Law Commission, a draft containing 69 clauses is under preparation for submission to the government for consideration. The proposed law will contain the rights of patients to choose the doctor, hospital or clinic must have mortality, clinical and morbidity audit to ensure accountability.

There will be some provisions to maintain transparency of pathological tests, uniformity of charges and mandatory referral system. There are ideas of introducing Government Practitioner (GP) system in urban areas to ensure quick dispense of health care services.

The available infrastructure to provide health care services is quite satisfactory and sufficient to address emergency care. From the grassroots to tertiary level, health care services facilities are available throughout the country. The community clinic concept for 6,000 population gained momentum and 13,732 community clinics are functional at present.

The perception of public about the health care services yet a major issue to address. Hospital and clinic management has not developed as friendly and homely where patients and attendants suffer from tension and crisis of proper advices.

In order to properly address all these issues and critical areas to improve, public at large feel the need of Health Services Act to formulate and enforce that might help sustainability in due course.

The writer is a former Secretary to the Government of Bangladesh.

E-mail: dknath888@gmail.com