The ICDDRB has recently prepared a compendium of maps and information on the composition and distribution of health facilities in urban Bangladesh.
GPS coordinates of each facility were recorded and located on updated road networks and basic facility data gathered according to the World Health Organisation (WHO)’s guidance on the creation of what is said to be a Master Facility List.
As part of the study, the urban mapping field team identified all public, NGO and privately owned and managed facilities, inclusive of informal or non-medically trained providers, displaying visible signage indicating their services.
The compendium was prepared by the Urban Health Group of the Centre for Equity and Health Systems of the ICDDRB, led by Prof Alayne Adams and supported by DFID, Bangladesh and GIZ.
The associated report, published in programme in Dhaka yesterday, summarises maps and facility information gathered to produce the Urban Health Atlas.
The atlas maps the area-wise location of various medical care facilities, which comprise hospitals, clinic, diagnostic centres, drop in centres, blood banks, pharmacy, EPI centres, delivery centres, satellite clinics and doctors’ chambers.
This is an interactive tool that has been developed to assemble, display and query health facility data in a visual fashion.
The study report says that the rich set of data gathered could be useful to policymakers, health planners and researchers.
It also claims that the work-in-progress atlas has summary data on the health facilities in Dhaka, Khulna, Sylhet, Rajshahi and Narayanganj cities. But the interactive website only has data for the two city corporations of Dhaka and those of Sylhet and Rajshahi.
The report also says a total of 58 field workers surveyed more than 19,000 facilities across urban Bangladesh between 2012 and 2015.
Based on a survey conducted among a sample size of 3,892 facilities, the study reached a generalised conclusion that only 0.9% of the facilities in Dhaka North City Corporation are owned by the government. In this part of Dhaka, the study located a total of 7,378 facilities.
For Dhaka south, only 1.2% of the facilities is owned by the state and the sample size was 2,830. In this part of Dhaka, the study located a total of 5,431 facilities.
Both these calculations include the around 5,000 privately owned pharmacies currently operating in the two city corporations of Dhaka.
However, the report does not have any elaboration on the methods of sampling and data collection.
These findings just give an idea of the ownership and does not say anything about how much of the total number of patients the facilities of various ownership serve.
