| 22-DEC-2025 |
বেশির ভাগ মার্কিনের প্রত্যাশা স্বাস্থ্যসেবা ব্যয়ে অগ্রাধিকার দেবে সরকার |
ডোনাল্ড ট্রাম্প প্রশাসনের কয়েকটি পদক্ষেপে স্বাস্থ্যসেবা ব্যয় নিয়ে যুক্তরাষ্ট্রে উদ্বেগ বাড়ছে। যেমন দারিদ্র্যবান্ধব মেডিকএইড কর্মসূচির ব্যয় হ্রাস এবং মহামারীকালে চালু হওয়া অ্যাফোর্ডেবল কেয়ার অ্যাক্টের (এসিএ) ভর্তুকি বন্ধ। আশঙ্কা করা হচ্ছে, এসব কারণে আগামী বছরের শুরুতেই লাখ লাখ মার্কিনের স্বাস্থ্য ব্যয় হঠাৎ অনেক বেড়ে যাবে। গবেষণা সংস্থা ন্যাশনাল ওপিনিয়ন রিসার্চ সেন্টারের (এনওআরসি) সঙ্গে বার্তা সংস্থা এপির নতুন জরিপেও এ উদ্বেগ উঠে এসেছে। |
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Bonik Barta |
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| 01-DEC-2025 |
People pay dearly for high health cost |
People pay through their nose for high health cost as government hospitals in Bangladesh serve only 11.2 per cent of the population by an official count. Of the rest, more than half of the population depends on pharmacy or dispensary or rural doctors for treatment, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) survey unveils. For taking treatment against their diseases, a Bangladeshi needs to spend Tk 9,948 per year, it shows. Among the diseases, the morbidity rate for high blood pressure is the highest as 78.28 people out of 1,000 die for the impact of the illness. |
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The Financial Express |
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| 10-NOV-2025 |
Health ministry seeks Tk 34.22 billion in emergency funds to sustain services |
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is seeking Tk 34.22 billion in emergency spending -- entirely from domestic sources -- to meet urgent healthcare needs beyond the existing budget allocation for the current fiscal year (2025-26).Officials said the ministry has submitted three separate one-year projects, covering July 2025 to June 2026, to the Planning Commission to secure the funds. These projects aim to complete the remaining activities under the fourth phase of the Health, Population and Nutrition Sector Programme (HPNSP), which ended in June 2024, and to ensure uninterrupted delivery of essential health services until new comprehensive projects are approved. |
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The Financial Express |
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| 22-OCT-2025 |
Govt to set up 170 urban health centres |
The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) will establish 170 Urban Primary Health and Nutrition Centres (UPHNCs) across Dhaka North, Dhaka South, and Chattogram city corporations, aiming to expand access to primary proposare services. The Health Services Division under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) submitted the project proposal, titled "Expanding Access to Integrated Health Care for the Urban Population," with an estimated cost of Tk 15.97 billion, including a World Bank (WB) contribution of Tk 11.73 billion. |
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The Financial Express |
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| 12-AUG-2025 |
Health sector reform: Many plans, little progress on system overhaul |
In the past year, medicine prices have not increased in the private sector; the prices of 33 essential drugs produced by the state-owned Essential Drugs Company have decreased, cancer medicine prices have dropped by 5-10%, and the cost of cardiac stents has also fallen.
Despite all these successes, there has been little real progress in the health sector. With the sector programme discontinued, many ongoing activities have been disrupted. Over the past year, senior officials at the health ministry have spoken about various plans – launching GP clinics for urban primary healthcare, forming a pharmacy network, and expanding the list of essential drugs – but implementation has yet to begin. Professor Dr AM Zakir Hossain, member of the Health Sector Reform Commission, told The Business Standard, "Over the past year, the health ministry has focused heavily on two areas – community clinics and medicines. They reduced the price of cardiac stents and visited community clinics. "But they have not addressed the issue of reorganising the system. As long as structural reform does not happen, everything will work only for a limited period, and solutions will remain individual-centric. If the person is good, it will work; if not, it won't. Without structural reform, there will be no lasting impact."
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| 10-AUG-2025 |
Over 40m suffer from pain-related illnesses in Bangladesh: Study |
In Bangladesh, a nationwide study conducted under the "Community-Oriented Program for Control of Rheumatic Diseases (COPCORD)" has revealed that nearly one-third of the adult population -- around 40 million people -- suffer from joint, muscle, or bone-related conditions. The number of patients experiencing pain continues to rise steadily.
Globally, 1 in every 5 people suffers from some form of chronic pain, with conditions affecting joints, muscles, or bones being the most common. Each year, over 30 million new individuals are diagnosed with some form of pain-related illness, according to the Global Burden of Disease study. These statistics were presented on Saturday at the 9th patient awareness event organised by the Professor Nazrul Rheumatology Foundation and Research (PNRFR) Trust at the Shaheed Abu Sayeed Convention Center in Dhaka. The keynote address was delivered by Dr Neera Ferdous, Vice-Chairman of PNRFR Trust and Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at MH Samorita Medical College and Hospital. The day-long programme included scientific presentations, interactive Q&A sessions, and hands-on demonstrations of therapeutic exercises for pain relief. Medical experts at the event expressed concern over the increasing number of patients suffering from rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases, contrasting with the limited number of qualified rheumatologists in the country. They emphasised the urgent need for government intervention and support in this area. |
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The Financial Express |
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| 21-JUL-2025 |
Health project stumbles over plagiarism |
The Planning Commission has flagged a proposed Tk 19.66 billion health project for plagiarism in its feasibility study, overlapping activities with another similar project, and inconsistencies in planning and budgeting. The project, titled "Implementation of Unfinished Essential Family Planning, Maternal, Child and Reproductive Health Services Activities from the Concluded 4th Sector Programme," was reviewed at a recent meeting of the Project Evaluation Committee (PEC), chaired by Dr Quayyum Ara Begum, member (secretary) of the Socio-Economic Infrastructure Division. The proposal was placed by the Medical Education and Family Welfare Division under the Health Ministry, and the Directorate General of Family Planning (DGFP) was set to implement it from July 2024 to June 2026. However, officials pointed out that one year of the two-year timeline has already passed without approval, which violates project rules. According to guidelines, projects cannot be approved retroactively and the timeline must now be revised. The Commission also noted that another similar project worth over Tk 33.33 billion, titled "Climate Responsive Reproductive Health and Population Services Improvement and System Strengthening Project for Results", has already been proposed by the same ministry.
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| 24-JUN-2025 |
PC flags flaws in Tk 198b health projects |
Two ambitious health-sector projects worth Tk 198.09 billion have hit a major scrutiny, as the Planning Commission (PC) has pushed back against their approval citing serious procedural and financial gaps.
Concerns range from the 'absence of feasibility studies to vague cost estimations', dominated by lump-sum allocations and components inconsistent with project goals. The proposed projects, planned towards system strengthening and climate-responsive health service delivery, are now being returned to the health ministry with instructions to revise and resubmit their development project proposals (DPPs). Officials say the move aims to ensure transparency and accountability in the use of both foreign aid and domestic resources before the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) can consider them. They said that separate meetings of the Project Evaluation Committee (PEC) hosted by the Planning Commission have decided to return the Development Project Proposals (DPPs), instructing to revise and resubmit with detailed cost breakdowns based on feasibility studies.
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The Financial Express |
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| 14-JUN-2025 |
With funds unspent, deadline ends soon |
Despite a five-year implementation window, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) has made limited progress in terms of infrastructure development under the Covid-19 Emergency Response and Pandemic Preparedness project. Of the planned 500 intensive care unit (ICU) beds to be set up across 50 district headquarters hospitals (10 beds each), ICU services have become operational in only 13 districts. Similarly, no progress has been made in establishing 16 pediatric intensive care units (P-ICUs) across 14 medical college hospitals, Bangladesh Shishu Hospital and Institute, and the Institute of Child and Mother Health in Matuail. |
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The Financial Express |
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| 24-APR-2025 |
Aid funding disrupts child vaccinations almost as much as pandemic: UN |
Global aid funding cuts, led by the United States, are disrupting efforts to vaccinate children against deadly diseases almost as much as the Covid-19 pandemic did, the United Nations said on Thursday.
Outbreaks of infectious diseases, including measles, meningitis and yellow fever, have been increasing globally. Emergency and routine vaccinations meanwhile were significantly affected in nearly half of countries at the start of April due to the funding cuts, according to reports from World Health Organization offices in 108 largely low and lower-middle income countries.
Cuts to funding also reduced vaccine supplies and hampered disease surveillance, the WHO and UNICEF said in a joint release with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. "Setbacks (are) at a similar level to what we saw during COVID-19. We cannot afford to lose ground in the fight against preventable disease," said Catherine Russell, UNICEF executive director. Covid-19 caused what was called the largest backslide in childhood vaccination in a generation, and aid funding cuts, led by the US – formerly the world’s largest donor – risked the same outcome, the joint release said.
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| 19-MAR-2025 |
Tk 1.06t health prog scrapped to prevent mismanagement |
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has decided not to move forward with the fifth phase of the Health, Population, and Nutrition Sector Programme (5th HPNSP) to avoid financial mismanagement and redundancy. The decision came from a series of seven high-level meetings held recently and chaired by Prof Dr Md Sayedur Rahman, special assistant to the chief adviser appointed to the health ministry, reveals an official letter sent to various ministries, divisions, and government agencies. The programme was proposed with an estimated cost of Tk 1.06 trillion to support health sector development activities over the next five years. Sources confirmed that the government planned to allocate Tk 806.85 billion from its own resources, while Tk 254.15 billion was expected to be secured from foreign loans and grants. Discarding the proposal will mark the end of the sector programme for the development and management of health services, which has been in place for the past 27 years, and will pave the way for going back to a project-based development system similar to other sectors. |
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The Financial Express |
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| 07-MAR-2025 |
Proposal sent back, cost cut suggested |
The Medical Education and Family Welfare Division under the health ministry has proposed a project to reconstruct 592 union health and family planning centers at an estimated cost of Tk 22.304 billion in the first phase. Once completed, the two-storey centres, originally established nationwide in the mid-1960s, will offer medical services 24/7 to approximately 20 million marginalized people. In addition to general healthcare, they will provide family planning, maternal and child health services, and adolescent care, including antenatal care, delivery, and postnatal care. However, the project has been criticized by the planning commission for the unusually higher construction cost of the main buildings compared to that in similar schemes. |
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The Financial Express |
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| 04-MAR-2025 |
ভারতে চিকিৎসা পর্যটকদের ৭০ শতাংশই ছিল বাংলাদেশী |
বিগত বছরগুলোয় বাংলাদেশীদের চিকিৎসার জন্য ভারত যাওয়ার প্রবণতা ব্যাপক মাত্রায় বেড়েছে। বেশ কয়েক বছর ধরেই দেশটিতে চিকিৎসা নিতে যাওয়া বিদেশীদের মধ্যে শীর্ষ অবস্থানে রয়েছে বাংলাদেশীরা। ভারত সরকারের পর্যটন মন্ত্রণালয়ের তথ্য অনুযায়ী, ২০১৭ থেকে ২০২২ সালের মধ্যে দেশটিতে চিকিৎসার জন্য যাওয়া বাংলাদেশীর সংখ্যা বেড়েছে ৪৮ শতাংশ। এর মধ্য দিয়ে দেশটিতে চিকিৎসা পর্যটনে আসা মোট বিদেশীর মধ্যে বাংলাদেশীর হার দাঁড়ায় ৭০ শতাংশের কাছাকাছিতে। এ বৃদ্ধির ধারা অব্যাহত ছিল ২০২৩ সালেও। দেশটির সরকারের এক প্রাক্কলিত তথ্য অনুযায়ী, ওই সময়ও দেশটিতে চিকিৎসা নিতে যাওয়া বিদেশীদের মধ্যে বাংলাদেশীর সংখ্যা ছিল ৭০ শতাংশের বেশি। একই সঙ্গে ছয় বছরের ব্যবধানে দেশটির চিকিৎসা পর্যটন খাতে (এমভিটি) বাংলাদেশী চিকিৎসাগ্রহীতার সংখ্যা বেড়ে দাঁড়িয়েছে দ্বিগুণের বেশিতে। বিশেষজ্ঞরা বলছেন, দেশে স্বাস্থ্য ব্যবস্থায় চিকিৎসাসেবার মান নিয়ে বাংলাদেশীদের মধ্যে সবসময়ই দেখা গেছে আস্থার সংকট। বিশেষ করে জটিল রোগের ক্ষেত্রে চিকিৎসার জন্য প্রতিবেশী ভারতে গিয়েছেন প্রচুর বাংলাদেশী। এছাড়া বাংলাদেশকে এমভিটি খাতের পর্যটকদের বড় উৎস হিসেবে চিহ্নিত করে এ নিয়ে বিশেষ কার্যক্রমও চালিয়েছে দেশটির বেসরকারি হাসপাতালগুলো। এর বাইরেও ভৌগোলিক ও সাংস্কৃতিক নৈকট্য এবং ভারতের চিকিৎসাসেবার মানও এক্ষেত্রে ভূমিকা রেখেছে বলে অভিমত বিশেষজ্ঞদের।
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| 04-MAR-2025 |
সাত মাসে মাত্র ৫ শতাংশ অর্থ ব্যয় করেছে স্বাস্থ্যসেবা বিভাগ |
সংশোধিত বার্ষিক উন্নয়ন কর্মসূচিতে (আরএডিপি) বরাদ্দ কমেছে ৪৯ হাজার কোটি টাকা। রেকর্ড পরিমাণ বরাদ্দ হ্রাস পাওয়ায় উন্নয়ন বাজেটের আকার দাঁড়িয়েছে ২ লাখ ১৬ হাজার কোটি টাকায়। যার মধ্যে ১০ মন্ত্রণালয় ও বিভাগেই চলে যাবে প্রায় ৬৫ শতাংশ উন্নয়ন ব্যয়। টাকার অংকে যার পরিমাণ ১ লাখ ৪০ হাজার কোটি টাকার বেশি। যদিও অর্থবছরের শুরুতে এডিপি বরাদ্দ ছিল ২ লাখ ৬৫ হাজার কোটি টাকা। স্বাস্থ্যসেবা বিভাগ সংশোধিত বাজেটে পেয়েছে ৫ হাজার ৬৬৮ কোটি টাকা। যদিও অর্থবছরের প্রথম সাত মাসে স্বাস্থ্যসেবা বিভাগ ব্যয় করেছে বরাদ্দের মাত্র ৫ শতাংশ! গতকাল শেরেবাংলা নগরের এনইসি সম্মেলন কক্ষে জাতীয় অর্থনৈতিক পরিষদের (এনইসি) সভায় সংশোধিত এডিপির অনুমোদন দেন প্রধান উপদেষ্টা ড. মুহাম্মদ ইউনূস। সভা শেষে সাংবাদিকদের সঙ্গে কথা বলেন পরিকল্পনা ও শিক্ষা উপদেষ্টা ড. ওয়াহিদউদ্দিন মাহমুদ। পরিকল্পনা কমিশনের সূত্রমতে, মন্ত্রণালয়গুলোর মধ্যে সর্বোচ্চ ৩৬ হাজার কোটি টাকা বরাদ্দ রাখা হয়েছে স্থানীয় সরকার বিভাগের জন্য, যা মোট উন্নয়ন বাজেটের প্রায় ১৭ শতাংশ। দ্বিতীয় অবস্থানে থাকা বিদ্যুৎ বিভাগের জন্য বরাদ্দ রাখা হয়েছে ২১ হাজার কোটি টাকা, যা মোট বাজেটের প্রায় ১০ শতাংশ। ১৮ হাজার কোটি টাকা বাজেট নিয়ে তৃতীয় অবস্থানে রয়েছে সড়ক পরিবহন বিভাগ। এর পরই ১২ হাজার কোটি টাকা বরাদ্দ পেয়েছে প্রাথমিক ও গণশিক্ষা মন্ত্রণালয়। প্রায় একই পরিমাণ বরাদ্দ পেয়েছে বিজ্ঞান ও প্রযুক্তি মন্ত্রণালয়।
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| 09-FEB-2025 |
Preliminary health budget set at Tk 434b for next fiscal |
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has set a preliminary budget allocation of Tk 434.83 billion for the next fiscal year (2025-26), marking a Tk 20.75 billion increase from the current fiscal year's allocation of Tk 414.08 billion.
This represents a 5 per cent rise in the health budget, which is 1 percentage point lower than the overall growth of the national budget, as outlined by the Finance Division. The modest increase comes amid a notable shift in the allocation pattern, with development expenditure being significantly curtailed. |
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Population & Family Welfare |
The Financial Express |
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| 15-DEC-2024 |
Bangladeshis spend over $5b abroad on treatment: Mansur |
Bangladeshi nationals spend more than $5 billion annually on medical treatment abroad, according to Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr. Ahsan H. Mansur.He said this at a workshop titled ‘Cross Border Data Flow: Bangladesh Perspective’ jointly organized by the Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh (PRI) and the World Bank on Sunday. |
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| 10-NOV-2024 |
কভিডের পর জনসংখ্যার প্রবৃদ্ধি বেড়েছে |
বাংলাদেশ পরিসংখ্যান ব্যুরোর (বিবিএস) হিসাবে ২০২৩ সালে দেশে মোট জনসংখ্যা ছিল ১৭ কোটি ২৯ লাখের কিছু বেশি। জাতিসংঘের তথ্য অনুযায়ী, বর্তমানে তা দাঁড়িয়েছে ১৭ কোটি ৪৭ লাখে। অতীতে বাংলাদেশে জনসংখ্যা প্রবৃদ্ধির গতি ক্রমেই শ্লথ হতে দেখা গেলেও পরিস্থিতিতে পরিবর্তন দেখা যাচ্ছে কভিড-১৯ মহামারীর পর থেকে। ওই সময় থেকে বাংলাদেশে জনসংখ্যা প্রবৃদ্ধির হার আবারো ঊর্ধ্বমুখী হয়ে উঠেছে। |
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Population & Family Welfare |
Bonik Barta |
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| 24-OCT-2024 |
Govt drafts 5th HPNSP involving Tk 1.06t |
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has drafted the fifth phase of the Health, Population and Nutrition Sector Programme (5th HPNSP) at an estimated cost of over Tk1.06 trillion, aiming the highest attainable level of health for all.
The government will provide Tk 806.85 billion from its exchequer, and another Tk 254.15 billion, around 23.95 per cent of the total cost, will be mobilized from foreign sources as loans and grants. The health ministry sent the proposal in this regard to the planning ministry, said high officials of both the ministries. |
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The Financial Express |
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