The activities of brokers who take patients to private clinics will be stopped: Health Minister

The activities of brokers who take patients from government hospitals to private clinics will be stopped permanently, Health and Family Welfare Minister Sardar Md. Sakhawat Hossain said. He said this at a research report release ceremony jointly organized by the Participant Research Center (PPRC) and the Health Economics Unit in the capital on Wednesday (July 29) morning.
At the ceremony, PPRC Executive Chairman Dr. Hossain Zillur Rahman presented the results of the research. Health Economics Unit Director General Dr. Md. Enamul Haque delivered the welcome speech.
The survey showed that the budget implementation rate of the surveyed government health institutions in the 2024-25 fiscal year was 85 percent. However, this rate was lowest at the secondary level, 78 percent. At the end of the fiscal year, 94 percent of the funds allocated to the institutions were unspent. According to the researchers, the main reason for this is not financial irregularities, but structural weaknesses and administrative complications in budget management. Only 27 percent of the allocation has been spent in the general equipment sector.
Alleging irregularities in the tender process, the Health Minister said that work is being given to preferred individuals or institutions by imposing unrealistic qualification conditions and limiting competition. Giving an example of waste in the health sector, he said that even though the Awami League government bought radiotherapy machines worth Tk 11 crore for Tk 18 crore, the necessary infrastructure was not ready to install them. Similarly, X-rays and other equipment were purchased for various hospitals without the necessary manpower.
He announced strict vigilance against doctors working in government hospitals sending patients to private clinics, commission-based test trading and irregularities in the performance of government duties. The Minister also said that the contracts of foreign companies will not be renewed to end the monopoly in dialysis services. The government will purchase dialysis machines under its own management. In addition, 50-bed dialysis centers will be opened in every medical college hospital and 10-bed dialysis centers in every district hospital.
To strengthen preventive healthcare, AI-enhanced kits, smartphones and bicycles will be provided to health workers in 10 upazilas and 90 wards on a trial basis over the next three months. They will go door to door to conduct various health checks, including diabetes and blood pressure.
The minister also said that strict measures will be taken to ensure financial transparency in the health ministry and urged the public not to pay bribes in the name of audits. At the same time, surveillance has been further strengthened in private clinics across the country to prevent unnecessary caesarean sections.