The Philippines is keen to leverage the capacity of Bangladesh’s pharmaceutical industry to meet its domestic medicine requirements, currently dominated by Western imports, Ambassador Nina P Cainglet said on Wednesday.
During a bilateral meeting with Health and Family Welfare Minister Sardar Md Sakhawat Husain, at his office in Dhaka, Ambassador Cainglet revealed that the Philippines is currently forced to import 67 per cent of its total medicine requirements from Western countries.
To address this heavy reliance, the ambassador sought active cooperation to fulfill the Philippines’ medicine demands by utilising the manufacturing capabilities of Bangladesh’s pharmaceutical sector.
The high-level discussions also reviewed an existing Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the two nations, which focuses on enhancing the quality and capacity of nursing education.
Ambassador Cainglet emphasised the importance of establishing direct flights between Dhaka and Manila to bolster trade and strengthen people-to-people relations.
Welcoming the Philippine delegation, the minister outlined Bangladesh’s domestic healthcare priorities. He said the government is actively working to reform the national healthcare system to deliver health services directly to the doorsteps of citizens at all levels.
Sakhawat added that various hospitals across the country are currently being inspected to assess the practical situation of healthcare delivery first-hand.
He said that the government is working relentlessly to integrate state-of-the-art machinery into hospitals, aiming to elevate the country’s medical treatment to developed-world standards.
