Private healthcare entrepreneurs on Saturday at a discussion in Dhaka demanded an unregulated health sector, with prices of medicines and services left to the market forces.
The demand was, however, rejected by Professor Sayedur Rahman, special assistant to the chief adviser for the sector, who argued that government regulation was essential to ensure access to health services for all citizens.
His remarks came though some political leaders voiced support for the private sector鈥檚 position.
Bengali newspaper 鈥榯he Daily Bonik Barta鈥� organised the Bangladesh Health Conclave 2025, sponsored by Square Hospitals Ltd and United Healthcare, in the capital.
Private sector representatives argued that overregulation stifled growth and innovation in the healthcare sector. Their call for deregulation came as the government moved to fix prices for essential medicines and medical tests.
Square Group director Tapan Chowdhury said,鈥楾he private sector should regulate itself, government control is not necessary.鈥�
Bangladesh Private Hospital Clinic and Diagnostics Owner Association president Md Mosaddeque Hossain Biswas said that presently 73 per cent of the total healthcare services were provided by the private hospitals, but they did not have the recognition.
鈥楾he government should inspire us instead of controlling,鈥� he observed.
According to Labaid Group managing director AM Shamim, due to the controlling mechanisms they face multiple challenges for the establishment of a health facility.
He said that they needed approvals from 18 government agencies to establish a hospital, which he termed oppressive for entrepreneurs.
There is also a huge negative propaganda surrounding the private sector healthcare services, he said.
All the responsibilities, he resented, lie with the private sector while many people neglect the private sector鈥檚 contribution to the national healthcare services.
鈥楽ome people believe that hospitals in the private sector mean profit and only profit. But the reality is different,鈥� he said.
Professor Sayedur Rahman said that the government could not free the private sector from its control because there was no such rationale for it.
鈥楾here is no country in the world where the health sector is free from regulation,鈥� he said, adding that the government was working to ensure a reasonable profit regime for the private sector.
He also said that the government would scrutinise if there was any exploitive mechanism in private sector healthcare entities. He said that there should be a limit to profit, adding that the profit margin could be 20 per cent or anything logically determined by any of the government agencies.
The government is also going to introduce a unified policy for the medical colleges. All the public and private medical colleges would be graded between A and D and that would be publicly announced.
Bangladesh Nationalist Party standing committee member Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury said that he supported no government control over the private sector services in healthcare.
鈥楲et the private sector to be self-regulatory,鈥� he proposed, adding 鈥榗ontrol invites corruption鈥�.聽 鈥業f we have a chance to power, we will keep it for self-regulation,鈥� he said, urging the private sector to get ready for that.
He also announced that if they could have the top office they would increase the health budget up to 5 per cent of the gross domestic product.
According to Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Nayeb e Ameer Syed Abdullah Md Taher also, the health sector budget should be increased. He, however, supported public-private partnership in the healthcare sector for better services.
Government officials, entrepreneurs, doctors and other professionals were present at the event.
