By Imtiaz Ahmed and Samia Tabassum
In the changing world scenario, Bangladesh should mull over engaging Japan and South Korea deeply in the mid- and long-term in developing tertiary health services as both countries have major success in improving health services to the world class levels in the regions, said Bangladesh diplomats, health economists and health specialists….
Bangladesh losses several billion US dollars as several thousand Bangladeshis go to Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and 1-2 lakh Bangladeshis to Indian to avail themselves better treatment …
According to newspaper reports, …China will invest in the construction of three new hospitals in Bangladesh – a specialised hospital in Nilphamari, a general hospital in Chattogram, and a rehabilitation facility in Dhaka.
A 1,000-bed specialised hospital will be built near the Teesta Project in Nilphamari, Dr Md Abu Jafor, director general at Directorate General of Health Services, said last year
Meanwhile, trade, investment, soft loans in mega projects, recruitment of Bangladeshis, energy and war in the middle-east and Rohingya issues are most likely to dominate the upcoming visit of Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman to Japan in mid—October, 2026, diplomatic sources in Dhaka and Tokyo said.
Sources said Prime Minister of Japan Sanae Takaichi has recently sent an invitation letter to Prime Minister of Bangladesh Tarique Rahman to visit Japan at a mutually convenient time as BNP got a landslide majority in the February 12, 2026 parliament and formed the government on February 17, 2026.
Both Dhaka and Tokyo are working on selecting a mutually convenient time and the prioritized issues to be discussed during the meeting between the two Prime Ministers of Bangladesh and Japan, diplomatic sources said.
Japan has been one of the most trusted development partners of Bangladesh since independence. However, in the recent past Japan has developed interest in geopolitical and strategic issues involving Bangladesh, said a Bangladesh diplomat who worked in Japan.
The present BNP government has presented a budget that included a number of mega and small projects involving overseas soft loans………….
“The upcoming visit of Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman to Japan at the invitation of Prime Minister of Japanese Sanae Takaichi will give a new boost to the bilateral relations between Bangladesh and Japan to a new height, said a high official of the Ministry of the Foreign Affairs
The war in the middle-east has compelled the new BNP government to increase energy prices, reduce dependence on Gulf counties and explore new sources of energy. Against this backdrop, the government has been working on increased engagement with new countries in the energy sector, diplomatic sources said.
Japan is an important source of soft loans and Bangladesh will seek increased Japanese participation in the development sector, said an official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs …….
Japan has one of the best health services in the world and cooperation with Japan will certainly improve the health services in Bangladesh, said a senior professor of the Dhaka Medical College who got higher training in Japan on several occasions.
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“South Korea and Japan have no political and strategic interests like the USA, Russia, China and India have in engaging developing projects in Bangladesh,” said a Bangladesh diplomat while talking to this correspondent..
“India will never engage itself in developing health services in Bangladesh as improved health services will stop Bangladeshi patients’ spree to visit the neighbouring country to get health services,’ said a Bangladesh diplomat.
Though Bangladesh Bank has no reliable statistics on medical expenses in India, unofficial statistics suggest that Bangladesh spends 4/5 billion US dollars in medical tourism in India, said a health economist while talking to this correspondent.
Japan has had a major stake in developing tertiary health services in some southeast Asian counties like Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand over the years.
Mount Elizabeth Hospital and Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital in Singapore are members of IHH Healthcare, the world’s second-largest hospital group. The major Japanese company Mitsui & Co., Ltd is the largest shareholder of IHH Healthcare, said a young Bangladesh diplomat who worked both in Japan and India.
Japan’s Mitsui & Company became the largest shareholder in Malaysian hospital operator IHH Healthcare to gain exposure to Southeast Asia’s health care market.
A number of Bangladeshi physicians who got higher training in Japan also expressed their views that Japan’s deep engagement in developing the health system will rein in patients’ spending spree in neighboring India.
South Korean government has extended economic cooperation to set up a Super Specialized Hospital under Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University at Shahbag in Dhaka city.
Public health activist Sumit Banik also highlighted the significant challenges in Bangladesh’s healthcare system, including a shortage of trained professionals, inadequate facilities and limited access to quality care, particularly in rural and marginalised areas. According to him, the concentration of tertiary care in urban centres and the lack of specialised services and modern diagnostics often compel patients to seek treatment abroad.
Dr Shafiun Nahin Shimul, a professor at Dhaka University’s Institute of Health Economics, highlighted communication gaps within the healthcare system.
Meanwhile, the political intervention in the medical education and health system, particularly in tertiary treatment, in Bangladesh stands in the way of improving health services in Bangladesh that in turn is encouraging a section of well-off and even some critically patients to seek treatment in neighbouring countries, Thailand , Singapore and Malaysia , said top leading physicians and professionals..
The number of Pakistani patients seeking treatment in India is very nominal compared to the number of Bangladeshi patients seeking treatment in India, according to available statistics.
A former director and professor of the National Institute of Cardiology and Vascular Diseases (NICVD) said that India and Pakistan have progressed well ahead of Bangladesh in improving medical education as politicians of both countries have not used medical students and teachers in their narrow political interest
He said that heart treatment in Bangladesh has progressed well, but the politicization of the health system is still bad to the desired level of the development in the country
He said the Pakistan military never intervened in the medical education and health system that help them improve the health service in that country.
He said the USA has the best health system with the best physician, nurses and technicians in the world. He said some 20-25 per cent Indian-American, 9-10 per cent Pakistani –American and 0.2 per cent Bangladeshi-American are contributing to the health system of the USA.
The political culture of intervening into the health system should be reduced in phases in the greater interest of improving medical education and health services in Bangladesh, said a professor of National Institute of Ophthalmology and Hospital (NIOH)
Former Regional Adviser to World Health Organization (WHO) Muzaherul Huq while talking to this correspondent said that Bangladesh can develop medical tourism targeting citizens of North-east India and Nepal.
Bangladesh can replicate the model of medical tourism like countries of India, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore in the mid-and long-term by ensuring some steps like improvement in nursing, extensive, rigorous and higher hands-on training of doctors, good behavior of the persons engaged in health services and better hospital services, opined experts.
But, Muzaherul Huq, also former senior adviser to the World Federation for Medical Education, said Bangladesh will have to set up international standard hospitals in Cox’s Bazar and Chittagong to help boost medical tourism…
The people of Seven Sisters of India, which include Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura, will visit Bangladesh and avail of the treatment in Bangladesh.
Muzaherul Huq, however, said that Bangladesh will have to ensure an international standard quality health system and service to patients……….
Huq said Bangladeshi patients usually go to Chennai, Valore, Kolkata, Bangalore and New Delhi to avail themselves of better treatment.
Meanwhile, the local health system of the country has witnessed an enviable improvement as the entrepreneurs invested some taka 200,000 crore by setting up 200 hospitals of different sizes across the country, sources said.
“The entrepreneurs have set up some 200 hospitals of different sizes investing some taka 200,000 core in the last 15-20 years. The yearly turnover of these hospitals is hovering around 150,000 crore taka. Each hospital has over 100 beds. Some 50,000 physicians and 11 lakh health workers employed in these hospitals are rendering the best possible health services to thousands of patients,” claimed Dr Abu M Shamim, Managing Director of the Lab Aid that set up a high standard in the heart treatment in the country besides the National Heart Foundation at Mirpur and National Institute of Cardiovascular and Diseases Hospital at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar. Now Labaid Specialized Hospital and Labaid Cancer Hospitals are offering treatment to different diseases.
According to sources, 85 percent of total outbound Bangladeshi patients get treatment in India, some 10 per cent in Thailand and the rest in Singapore, Malaysia, the UK, USA and China, sources said.
According to the Thai immigration, a total of 142,268 Bangladeshi tourists visited Thailand in 2024, a total of 140,657 Bangladeshi tourists in 2023, a total of 78, 866 workers in 2022, a total of 2202 tourists in 2021, a total of 22,822 tourists in 2020, 1,39,622 Bangladeshi tourists visited Thailand
