Govt plans to introduce health insurance for all: PM [ Tritiyo Matra News ]

Govt plans to introduce health insurance for all: PM

Local June 20, 2019

The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, on Wednesday told parliament that the government had a plan to introduce health insurance for all.
In tabled reply to a question to the prime minister from Jatiya Party lawmaker Rustum Ali Faraji, she said that the government had already introduced health insurance at Madhupur, Ghatail and Kalihati upazilas in Tangail in pilot project.
She said that the government had formulated the Healthcare Financing Strategy 2012-2032 to ensure healthcare services.
In line of the Healthcare Financing Strategy, the government has undertaken a pilot project titled ‘Swasthya Surakkha Karmasuchi (health protection programme) to initially provide free healthcare services to the poor at the three upazilas in Tangail.
Under the project, free health services are being provided to the poor for 78 diseases in the three upazilas and the government is working to spread the pilot project to all the nine upazilas of Tangail, Hasina said.
If the pilot project becomes successful, health insurance will be introduced for all, she said.
The government also has a plan to provide medicine and health service under the insurance scheme to all, she added.
A social health insurance project is being prepared for apparel and tea garden workers, Hasina said.
Replying to another query of ruling Awami League lawmaker Mamunur Rashid Kiron, Hasina said that government had taken various steps to make healthcare services available at the doorstep of the people.
The government has different projects to build and refurbish health service infrastructure, increasing beds at hospital at the cost of Tk 1.15 lakh crore by 2022, she said.
It has plan to increase life expectancy to 71.6 by 2021, start operation of 14,890 community clinics and turn upazila health complexes into 50-bed hospitals.
Answering another question from Gono Forum lawmaker Mukabbir Khan, the prime minister said that the number of mobile users in Bangladesh reached 16.05 crore till April, an increase from 4.5 crore in 2008.
She said that internet the number of user reached 9.37 crore till April, a sharp rise from 60 lakh in 2008.
In reply to another question from treasury bench member Benjir Ahmed, she said that a number of measures were taken for balanced development narrowing the difference between the urban and rural areas.
Major ones include nationalisation of 26,370 primary schools, requirement of 1,79,717 assistant teachers at primary schools and establishment of 1,495 primary schools, she said.
Measures taken in the health sector include establishment of 13,500 community clinics, introduction of the 24/7 health call centre and supplying X-ray machine, ultrasound machine, ECG, Semi-Auto Analyzer and ENT OPD Set to upazila-level hospitals.
In agricultural sector, the measures include reducing the prices of TSP fertilisers at Tk 22 from Tk 80, MOP at Tk 15 from Tk 70 and DAP at Tk 25 from Tk 90 a kg, opening 1.01 crore farmers’ bank accounts providing incentives and assistance and distribution of 2,08 crore agricultural inputs assistance cards.
About the communication and infrastructural development, the prime minister said that the government constructed 56,947 km roads and 3,11,274 metre bridges and culverts in the past 10 years for the development of the rural communication system.
About electrification, Hasina said that the power generation capacity went up to 21,600 megawatt as the government increased by seven times in the past 10 years.