Almost 40 years after the government first fixed private healthcare services fees, the government has decided to re-fix them, including treatment and pathological costs.
Health and Family Welfare Minister Zahid Maleque disclosed the matter while presiding over a review meeting on services of private hospitals, diagnostic centres, and clinics at the meeting room of the Ministry of Health at the Secretariat on Wednesday.
The service rates were initially fixed through the Medical Practice and Private Clinics and Laboratories (regulation) Ordinance 1982. However, the private sector did not follow that rate for long due to various complications.
It has been 40 years since the prices were fixed and so it was a timely need to re-fix it so that they can be implemented properly, said a Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) official present at the meeting.
The DGHS has been instructed to form a committee to oversee the matter, Secretary (Health Service) of the ministry Abdul Mannan told Dhaka Tribune.
The minister also informed the members present at the meeting that a “high powered committee” would be formed soon. “The next step will be taken as per report of this committee,” he added.
According to sources at the meeting, the rate would be decided based on the investment on machineries and services.
Earlier the hospitals were categorized depending on the bed numbers but a decision has been taken that the hospitals would be categorized depending on services as well. The fees would be fixed according to that.
It was also decided to bring all the healthcare facilities operating in the country under registration, the sources said.
Other proposals made by Hospital Owners Association
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Sources also said the representative of the Hospital Owners Association made several proposals that evoked a mixed reaction from the government officials.
The association proposed a centralized medical waste management for private facilities, decentralization of licensing process, easing terms and conditions for registration and drives against hospital irregularities.
Meeting sources stated that the owners association wanted the drives to be done by the DGHS and not by the law enforcers. But that proposal was rejected by the government officials.
MA Mubin Khan, president of Bangladesh Private Medical College Association, termed the meeting as a very fruitful one as many decisions were taken in favour of healthcare services.
The ministry has agreed over centralized medical waste management for all private healthcare organizations, and Secretary Abdul Mannan also supported the idea of decentralization of the licensing process and so on, he added.
Mubin Khan welcomed the government’s initiative to re-fix service fees as its efficiency was evident in India and Thailand as well.
He said: “Fixing the rates, especially in the time of Covid-19, will remove the misunderstanding over service fees among the hospital authorities and patients.”
According to the current terms and conditions for registration, a hospital has to ensure Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP), a type of waste water treatment plant which might require crores of taka to be installed.
So, it is not realistic for a 20-bed hospital to afford that.
“We proposed relaxing the terms and conditions a little and have been assured it will be considered,” Mubin Khan said.
He also said the private hospitals would welcome drives and that they could not take responsibility for irregularities committed by a handful of mischievous people.
Prof Khan Abul Kalam Azad, principal of Dhaka Medical College, and representatives from different healthcare organizations also attended the meeting.
