Establish value-based healthcare system in Bangladesh: Omar Ishrak

Omar S Ishrak, a Bangladeshi-American currently serving as executive chairman and chairman of the board of Medtronic PLC and also chairman of the board of Intel Corporation, has called for establishing a value-based healthcare system in Bangladesh.

He said this while speaking as chief guest of the 38th Annual Installation Ceremony of the Rotary Club of Metropolitan Dhaka (RCMD), a part of Rotary International, organised virtually yesterday.

Speaking on post-Covid-19 healthcare facility needs for Bangladesh, he said, "Value-based healthcare means the provider should get paid when the outcome is reached. Today, when a patient goes to hospital or to a doctor, s/he has to pay to get the treatment. If the treatment does not work, or someone makes a mistake, the patient has to go back to the hospital and pay for the treatment again. So, there is no financial accountability on the provider's part to ensure that the services they offered reached the result which they had promised."

"When people do provide treatment for a purpose that someone will get better, there are ways of telling how you will get better and when you will get better. And, if you can formalise the process, you will be able to create a system which will be far more accountable," he said.

Omar Ishrak also said three things are required to establish a proper healthcare system in Bangladesh: awareness, infrastructure and specialised training.

"Awareness means more general training about the healthcare -- knowing that certain conditions can be treated and certain conditions have these symptoms. The second thing is infrastructure, such as building primary healthcare offices, hospitals, operating rooms or treatment centres. And, the third thing is providing specialised training to healthcare providers so that they can correctly perform medical procedures," he said at the conference.

Rotarian Rubayet Hossain MPHF, B District Governor, RI District 3281 Bangladesh, also attended the virtual conference as the guest of honour.

"We want to build partnership with the government and non-government organisations to fight the pandemic. We are providing equipment such as high flow nasal cannula to treat Covid-19 patients and we are also working to contribute to our healthcare system in the post-Covid-19 scenario," Rubayet Hossain said.

The other speakers and members of RCMD presented the club's activities during pandemic and charitable activities throughout the year.