National Professor Dr. A K Azad Khan, President, Bangladesh Diabetic Samity said due to lack of facilities, trust and comfort, patients sometimes go abroad to have healthcare service.
"To reverse the outbound patients, we need to do a proper plan and identify the bottlenecks," said Dr. Khan will speaking at a seminar Tourism organized by Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) held at its auditorium in the city on Saturday.
Dr. Khan said: "Since, the medical science is an ever changing process as far as the technology is concerned; it will be changed in next 25 years than what we have now. So we need to have a proper curriculum to adopt the best technological advancement."
He also stressed for standardization of labs, adequate budget allocation, facilitating more and more research and strengthening the BMDC.
DCCI President Ashraf Ahmed said in the opening remark demand for medical tourism keeps unabated as larger number of middle income household are seeking healthcare services abroad although many of the treatments are available locally.
He also said except for few types of treatment available locally robotic surgery for instance still not enough to give satisfaction and confidence to customers.
We need to remember, customer satisfaction comes not just from the treatment, but also from the whole medical ecosystem including nurses, administration, medical technologists.
Ashraf Ahmed said, according to WTO data, 49pc of the people in Bangladesh do not have access to quality healthcare, as well as the tendency to seek healthcare services abroad is increasing .
He also underscored the need for ensuring advanced infrastructure and modern technology for the development of the country's healthcare ecosystem, increasing budgetary support, launching the chain of international hospitals in the country, simplifying the registration process for foreign doctors and nurses to operate in Bangladesh and removing such other procedural complexities in obtaining and renewing all types of licenses.
DCCI Senior Vice President Malik Talha Ismail Bari presented the keynote paper in which he said the budget in the health sector is not sufficient and must have enough allocation.
The size of the overseas healthcare tourism spending was recorded around USD 4 billion in 2012. He said availability of advanced technology, competitively lower price local patients seek healthcare abroad.
Dr. Md. Liaquat Hossain, Registrar (Acting), Bangladesh Medical & Dental Council (BM&DC); Dr. Syed Abdul Hamid, Professor and Former Director, Institute of Health Economics, Dhaka University; Dr. Rezaul Karim Kazal, Professor, Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, BSMMU; Dr. Abul Bashar Md. Jamal, Professor of Surgery, Dhaka Medical College Hospital; Dr. Mir Saaduddin Ahmad, Secretary General, Bangladesh Society of Emergency Medicine were also present at the seminar.
