People seek treatment in neighbouring India citing more professional behaviour from doctors and quality treatment
Dhaka Tribune
Kohinur Khyum Tithila
Publish : 10 Jan 2022, 12:07 AMUpdate : 12 Jan 2022, 08:31 PM
Navida Ameen’s plan to visit India for medical treatment has been on hold for the last two years owing to coronavirus-related restrictions. For the time being, she is having to seek treatment in Bangladesh until she can sort out travel plans for the neighbouring country.
However, she is seeing doctors in the country merely out of need, due to her distrust of the healthcare system in Bangladesh.
Navida, who is stationed at Cox’s Bazar for her job, says it’s not the frequent trips to the capital for tests and consultations but the “unprofessionalism and judgements from the doctors” that make it more challenging for her to trust the system.
According to Navida, her distrust stems from the time when she lost her father due to wrong treatment.
“My father’s doctor was out of the country when he had to see him with his heart-related complications,” she said. “So, he went to another doctor who advised that my father needs annuloplasty. We did not seek a second opinion and agreed to let him perform the procedure.”
When her father died, shortly after the surgery, her family spoke to his regular doctor who said what her father needed was bypass surgery, not an annuloplasty.
“It is not just the incident with my father. Doctors here are hardly on time and respectful towards their patients,” she said, before adding that she feels humiliated in her gynaecologist’s office.
“This week a gynaecologist and a medical technician in a diagnostic centre were asking me judgmental questions when they heard I am not married in my 30s and living alone in a city far from my parents,” she said.
Like Navida, many people prefer going abroad for medical purposes due to the growing mistrust of the healthcare systems. They complain of unprofessional and rude behaviour from doctors and healthcare workers, unnecessary medical tests, corruption in the medical sector, lack of trained staff, proper diagnosis and quality treatment.
Percentage of outbound medical tourists rising
India is the most preferred spot for treatment for a large number of Bangladeshis. Despite it being a neighbouring country, patients are drawn there not only for the quality of treatment but the professional and polite behaviour of the healthcare workers, including doctors.
According to a 2021 report by the Times of India, about 54% of all foreign medical visitors in India are Bangladeshis. The figures released by India’s tourism ministry showed that the inflow of medical tourists from Bangladesh has surged by 83% in the last three years.
In 2015, a total of 120,388 Bangladeshis travelled to India for medical treatment, the figure rising to 221,751 in 2017.
Shaystha Andolon’s Farida Akter said that she thinks patients have the right to get most healthcare services in their own country as it is one of their basic rights.
“Health tourism is not uncommon but we received a lot of complaints from the people about unprofessional behaviour from the doctors in Bangladesh,” she said.
“This is more like a societal and cultural problem and therefore fixable,” she added.
She said, patients, especially females, are often humiliated for their life choices and receive unsolicited advice from doctors.
She also pointed out that doctors here in Bangladesh often do not explain the health issues and why they are recommending certain tests and drugs, which drives people to seek healthcare outside the country.
A shortage of doctors
Bangladesh Medical Association General Secretary Md Ehteshamul Haque Chowdhury is of the view that while the complaints are partly true, it is the shortage of healthcare providers in Bangladesh which leads to unprofessional behaviours sometimes.
“I think the real challenge we are dealing with in the health sector is that the patient and doctor ratio is imbalanced and it affects the quality of medical treatment,” he said.
Bangladesh is falling behind in maintaining the minimum threshold of doctors, and nurses for every 10,000 people set by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The current doctor-patient ratio in Bangladesh is only 5.26 to 10,000, which places the country at the second from the bottom, among the South Asian countries, according to WHO.
Ehteshamul thinks doctors here in Bangladesh, particularly in state-run hospitals, are always overburdened with work which might make them act rudely towards their patients.
According to him, Bangladesh is in need of more qualified healthcare providers to fill the gap between patients and doctors.
“We have to admit that there are qualified doctors, nurses, and medical technicians in our country, but many of them are overwhelmed with the volume of patients they have to deal with every day,” he said.
“A significant number of people in the bordering districts go to India for treatment as it is easier for them and does not really cost much money,” he said.
Experts say the entire healthcare system is long overdue for an overhaul to improve services in both private and public hospitals. They say the hospitals must be brought under a framework to ensure quality treatment and professionalism to restore people’s faith in the system.
What drives people to seek healthcare abroad?
People seek treatment in neighbouring India citing more professional behaviour from doctors and quality treatment
Navida Ameen’s plan to visit India for medical treatment has been on hold for the last two years owing to coronavirus-related restrictions. For the time being, she is having to seek treatment in Bangladesh until she can sort out travel plans for the neighbouring country.
However, she is seeing doctors in the country merely out of need, due to her distrust of the healthcare system in Bangladesh.
Navida, who is stationed at Cox’s Bazar for her job, says it’s not the frequent trips to the capital for tests and consultations but the “unprofessionalism and judgements from the doctors” that make it more challenging for her to trust the system.
According to Navida, her distrust stems from the time when she lost her father due to wrong treatment.
“My father’s doctor was out of the country when he had to see him with his heart-related complications,” she said. “So, he went to another doctor who advised that my father needs annuloplasty. We did not seek a second opinion and agreed to let him perform the procedure.”
When her father died, shortly after the surgery, her family spoke to his regular doctor who said what her father needed was bypass surgery, not an annuloplasty.
“It is not just the incident with my father. Doctors here are hardly on time and respectful towards their patients,” she said, before adding that she feels humiliated in her gynaecologist’s office.
“This week a gynaecologist and a medical technician in a diagnostic centre were asking me judgmental questions when they heard I am not married in my 30s and living alone in a city far from my parents,” she said.
Like Navida, many people prefer going abroad for medical purposes due to the growing mistrust of the healthcare systems. They complain of unprofessional and rude behaviour from doctors and healthcare workers, unnecessary medical tests, corruption in the medical sector, lack of trained staff, proper diagnosis and quality treatment.
Percentage of outbound medical tourists rising
India is the most preferred spot for treatment for a large number of Bangladeshis. Despite it being a neighbouring country, patients are drawn there not only for the quality of treatment but the professional and polite behaviour of the healthcare workers, including doctors.
According to a 2021 report by the Times of India, about 54% of all foreign medical visitors in India are Bangladeshis. The figures released by India’s tourism ministry showed that the inflow of medical tourists from Bangladesh has surged by 83% in the last three years.
In 2015, a total of 120,388 Bangladeshis travelled to India for medical treatment, the figure rising to 221,751 in 2017.
Shaystha Andolon’s Farida Akter said that she thinks patients have the right to get most healthcare services in their own country as it is one of their basic rights.
“Health tourism is not uncommon but we received a lot of complaints from the people about unprofessional behaviour from the doctors in Bangladesh,” she said.
“This is more like a societal and cultural problem and therefore fixable,” she added.
She said, patients, especially females, are often humiliated for their life choices and receive unsolicited advice from doctors.
She also pointed out that doctors here in Bangladesh often do not explain the health issues and why they are recommending certain tests and drugs, which drives people to seek healthcare outside the country.
A shortage of doctors
Bangladesh Medical Association General Secretary Md Ehteshamul Haque Chowdhury is of the view that while the complaints are partly true, it is the shortage of healthcare providers in Bangladesh which leads to unprofessional behaviours sometimes.
“I think the real challenge we are dealing with in the health sector is that the patient and doctor ratio is imbalanced and it affects the quality of medical treatment,” he said.
Bangladesh is falling behind in maintaining the minimum threshold of doctors, and nurses for every 10,000 people set by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The current doctor-patient ratio in Bangladesh is only 5.26 to 10,000, which places the country at the second from the bottom, among the South Asian countries, according to WHO.
Ehteshamul thinks doctors here in Bangladesh, particularly in state-run hospitals, are always overburdened with work which might make them act rudely towards their patients.
According to him, Bangladesh is in need of more qualified healthcare providers to fill the gap between patients and doctors.
“We have to admit that there are qualified doctors, nurses, and medical technicians in our country, but many of them are overwhelmed with the volume of patients they have to deal with every day,” he said.
“A significant number of people in the bordering districts go to India for treatment as it is easier for them and does not really cost much money,” he said.
Experts say the entire healthcare system is long overdue for an overhaul to improve services in both private and public hospitals. They say the hospitals must be brought under a framework to ensure quality treatment and professionalism to restore people’s faith in the system.