My country — my health care

Healthcare in 1980

• Healthcare delivery was dominated by public hospitals
• Service standards were generally poor
• Physicians were tied to security of public system
• Innovation was slow
• Private hospitals were in their infancy
• Served mostly middle and upper class clientele
• Mostly part-time physicians from public hospitals run the industry
• Few modern technologies came to Dhaka for medical care

Healthcare in 2011

• Doctors and patients — neither side of the coin is satisfied
• Many have lost confidence in locally available services and allied health care
• People are going abroad — especially to India, Thailand and Singapore in increasing numbers to get treatment
• Pressing need to better address the health rights of those who have less, especially the 'middle class'

Healthcare in 2018

• Health inequalities are increasing
• Public vs. non-public sector — challenges ahead
• Quality of care needs accreditation
• ICU, CCU and post-operative need monitoring by a private expert cell
• People are going abroad; it is increasing again
• Private health care services created medical poverty
• Proper human resource constraints are prevailing
• There is no planning towards biomedical century and further advancement

E-mail: rubaiulmurshed@gmail.com