Party unveils reform proposals
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Tuesday announced proposals for health sector reform to ensure the right to free healthcare for all in the light of universal health coverage.
BNP standing committee member and former health minister Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain announced the draft health sector reform proposals at a press conference at the party chairperson鈥檚 office in the capital鈥檚 Gulshan area.
Highlighting the proposal to implement measures in three phases for the comprehensive development of the health sector, Mosharraf said that their proposals included a short-term plan spanning one year to three years.
He also underscored the need for fundamental changes in the entire health sector through a mid-term plan for five years and a long-term plan for 10 years.
Mosharraf said that they emphasised the appointment of rural health assistants, improving the quality of services at Upazila Health Complexes, transforming them into effective primary referral centres, ensuring necessary specialised services, and enhancing planned family and population management.
The BNP observed that quality healthcare for the marginalised people was not ensured, medical education remained unplanned, and the country鈥檚 medical system was yet to achieve the desired competitiveness at the regional and international levels.
A significant portion of ordinary people still seek medical treatment abroad, and the private healthcare system is yet to become a universal reality, it also mentioned.
Mosharraf said that, in line with the universal health coverage, the BNP had proposed health sector reforms in Article 26 of its 31-point proposal for restructuring the state.
If the BNP is voted to power, necessary steps will be taken to ensure the highest level of healthcare for all in the light of the National Health Service-NHS of the United Kingdom or Universal Health Coverage, the BNP leader said.
Mosharraf said that if the BNP was voted to power in the future, it would further expand the social safety net for deprived and poor people until poverty was eradicated.
He said that the GDP allocation for the health sector in the national budget would not be less than 5 per cent.
In its proposals, the BNP outlined a comprehensive plan for the health sector, aiming to boost the country鈥檚 self-reliance in medical production.
The party proposed achieving 100 per cent capacity in manufacturing essential medicines and medical supplies at the government level by expanding Essential Drug Company Limited.
It also called for increasing government diagnostic facilities to operate round the clock and seven days a week and ensuring affordable and reliable diagnostic reports.
The BNP proposed to establish local production of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients for all medicines within the next five years.
The party also proposed to expand the export of medicines, targeting a $5 billion increase in exports within five years.
In terms of healthcare justice, the party proposed enacting equality-based legislation under the Health Protection Act to ensure fair rights and protection for all healthcare providers, including doctors.
鈥榃e are presenting these proposals to the nation. And, if the interim government accepts these proposals, the government that the people will form in the future will implement them,鈥� Mosharraf said.