ঢাকাশনিবার , ৮ অগাস্ট ২০২৬
Universal health coverage is essential to ensure health equity and rights in Bangladesh. Along with rapid urbanization in the country, non-communicable diseases are also increasing. The number of urban poor people is increasing. Although there are various systems, including community clinics and upazila hospitals, to provide medical services in rural areas, people are not getting sufficient and necessary services. Bangladesh lags far behind in the service coverage index of universal health protection. For this, massive investment in primary health care is needed. They said these things in a webinar titled ‘Universal Health Protection in Bangladesh: Prospects and Actions’ today, Tuesday (October 28, 2025) at 3 pm . The webinar, organized by the research organization ARK Foundation, was held on the meeting software Zoom.
The webinar was attended by the chief guest, Director General (DG) of the Health Economics Unit of the Ministry of Health and Family Planning, Dr. Md. Enamul Haque. The panelists were Professor Jahangir Khan, Department of Health Economics, University of Gothenburg, Sweden; CEO and Founder of Quality Care Concern and Member Secretary of UHC Forum, Dr. Md. Aminul Hasan; Secretary of the Center for Law and Policy Affairs, Advocate Syed Mahbubul Alam Tahin; and Professor of Economics, University of Dhaka and Executive Director of ARK Foundation, Dr. Rumana Haque. The webinar was moderated by Research Associate, ARK Foundation, Badruddin Saifi.
In his speech as the chief guest, Dr. Md. Enamul Haque highlighted the government’s ongoing overall reform efforts and said, ” Universal Health Coverage is essential to ensure health equity and rights in Bangladesh. Realizing this, thirty-five ministries have already signed a declaration on multi-sectoral cooperation. The Health Reform Commission has submitted 33 proposals to accelerate Universal Health Coverage (UHC). The government is committed to implementing the necessary policy and institutional reforms to improve financial security and equitable access to healthcare.”
Professor Dr. Rumana Haque said, to ensure universal health coverage, the entire system needs to be transformed. Some isolated steps are not enough. Universal health coverage is not just a matter of financing. It is a holistic reform process. Strengthening primary health care, ensuring an effective referral system and reducing out-of-pocket costs for essential medicines; improving all of these will be key. In the country, many people still receive treatment from pharmacies, there is a lag in gender-based service provision, transgender people still face many problems in receiving services, and many departments lag behind in the department-wise universal health coverage index. These sectors need to improve quickly.
From a legal and rights-based perspective, Advocate Syed Mahbubul Alam said, “Civil society must be part of the policy-making process for universal health protection. The experience of tobacco control proves that breaking the syndicate and real reform is possible through strong cooperation between the government and civil society.”
Highlighting international experience, Professor Jahangir Khan said, “Bangladesh has skilled professionals. However, without strong political leadership, these reforms will not translate into overall change.”
Dr. Md. Aminul Hasan said, poverty and inflation have increased in the country after the outbreak of Covid-19 and the Ukraine war. If it is to achieve universal health coverage by 2030, it has become impossible . The Healthcare Financial Strategy was taken in 2012 to reduce the people’s out-of-pocket health expenditure. But it has increased instead of decreasing. For this, we need to urgently increase primary health care facilities, increase skilled health workers, and increase digital health infrastructure.
The webinar was attended by over fifty officials from various private organizations, including various public health experts, tobacco control experts, media representatives, and others from the country.
