State Minister for Health and Family Welfare M A Muhit on Thursday said the government plans to bring field-level health services under a unified structure to reduce duplication and strengthen primary healthcare across the country.
He said, “The government aims to build a fully reorganised and modern health system, where the existing family planning structure would serve as an asset rather than a burden.”
“The foundation of our health policy is strengthening primary healthcare,” state minister added while speaking at a policy dialogue titled ‘Primary Healthcare and National Family Planning Programme in Bangladesh’ at the CIRDAP auditorium in Dhaka.
Bangladesh Health Watch and Sweden’s Sverige organised the dialogue.
The state minister noted, “Nearly 40,000 workers under the Health Ministry, Family Planning Department and Community Clinics are currently working separately in different segments at the field level.”
He said the government plans to recruit another 100,000 health workers and bring a total of around 140,000 workers under an integrated framework.
He also mentioned all workers would receive a common job description and an “Essential Service Package” to ensure uniform healthcare services nationwide.
Muhith further said the government will now focus not only on population control, but also on overall healthcare improvement, disease prevention and raising public awareness about health.
“Three separate workers visiting the same household creates duplication, while many distant households remain outside coverage. An integrated structure will remove this coverage gap,” he said.
He also said, “Around 50 percent of people in the country now purchase contraceptives privately. With proper awareness, the figure could rise to 70 percent, which would reduce pressure on the government and allow more resources to be spent on public health services.”
Speaking about health sector financing, the state minister said inefficiency and failure to implement projects on time remain bigger challenges than funding shortages.
He said the government plans to allocate the highest priority to the health and education sectors and gradually increase the size of the health budget.
He also stressed the importance of using modern technology for real-time data collection and local-level planning.
Among others, Prime Minister’s Special Assistant on Health Ziauddin Hyder, Director General of the Directorate General of Family Planning Ashrafi Ahmad, Social Marketing Company Managing Director Toslim Uddin Khan, Swedish Embassy Health Adviser Mohammad Zahirul Islam, population planning and development expert Ubaidur Rob, Bangladesh Health Watch adviser Yasmin H Ahmed, Prothom Alo Special Correspondent Shishir Moral and Bangladesh Health Watch Working Group member and senior public health specialist Abu Jamil Faisel took part in the panel discussion.
