State Minister for Health and Family Welfare Dr MA Muhit on Wednesday said that a sustainable and multi-sectoral urban health model would be finalized within the next six months to ensure healthcare services for nearly 60 million urban residents across the country.
“The health ministry has taken responsibility for ensuring healthcare services for nearly 60 million urban residents. The existing healthcare centres would continue operating under the previous framework for the next six months to ensure uninterrupted services, and during this period a sustainable and multi-sectoral urban health model will be finalized,” he said.
The state minister made the remarks while addressing a meeting as the chief guest at Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel in the capital this afternoon.
The Bangladesh Urban Health Network (BUHN) and Eminence jointly organised the discussion titled “Urban Health: Strengthening Multi-Sectoral Engagement” with support from the Embassy of Sweden and UNICEF, said a press release.
Dr Muhit said that while rural communities have a well-defined healthcare network through upazila health complexes, the ministry of health previously had no direct formal responsibility for ensuring healthcare services for the country's vast urban population.
“To address this gap, the present government has taken a final decision to assume responsibility for urban healthcare as a landmark initiative,” he said.
Emphasising that healthcare services must not be disrupted under any circumstances, he said existing urban health centres would continue operating under the previous partnership-based framework for the next six months until their full transition to government management.
Necessary policy and financial approvals have already been granted to this end, the state minister said, adding that a comprehensive, sustainable and affordable urban health model would be finalised during this transitional period.
Speaking about the health budget, Dr Muhit said the country has allocated the highest-ever budget for the health sector this year for the first time in its history.
The government's objective is not limited to maintaining the current allocation; rather, it has a clear political commitment to gradually increase the health budget to five percent of the country’s GDP over the next five years, he added.
The state minister called for considering urban healthcare beyond hospitals and medicines, taking into account broader issues such as housing, safe drinking water, sanitation, employment, mental health and the prevention of non-communicable diseases.
He said the healthcare framework designed for upazila-level services should not be blindly replicated in urban areas. Instead, authorities need to assess the actual healthcare needs of urban residents, introduce electronic health cards and establish an effective referral network involving both public and private healthcare providers, he added.
Noting that the urban health project has already received preliminary inclusion in the Planning Commission, Dr Muhit called on public health experts, researchers and development partners to swiftly formulate a realistic, cost-effective and multi-sectoral action plan.
Doctors Association of Bangladesh (DAB) President Professor Dr Harun Al Rashid, Health Economics Unit (HEU) Director General Dr Md Enamul Haque, National Institute of Preventive and Social Medicine (NIPSOM) Director Professor Dr Nasrin Sultana, UNICEF Bangladesh Health Manager Emdadul Hoque, World Bank representative Wameq Raza and Bangladesh Medical Research Council Director Dr Kazi Saifuddin Bennur also spoke at the discussion, among others.
Officials from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and its directorates, representatives of local and international development partner organizations, public health experts and other stakeholders also shared their views at the meeting.