Govt will fix treatment fees at private hospitals: Health minister
A meeting will be held in this regard with the representatives of private medical institutions in the country soon and necessary steps will be taken accordingly.
Health Minister Zahid Maleque said the government will fix the treatment fees at different private hospitals and clinics to minimise the medical costs for the people of the country.
A meeting will be held in this regard with the representatives of private medical institutions in the country soon and necessary steps will be taken accordingly, said the minister while addressing a meeting on "The Private Sector's Involvement in Medical Services" at the Secretariat on Sunday.
He said the people of the country are spending more out of pocket to get medical services, while the government health services are provided free of cost. He held the cost of treatment abroad or at private medical hospitals and the price of drugs as the reasons behind the rise in treatment expenditure.
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The variation in charges at different hospitals has become another cause of people's suffering, said the minister while acknowledging the private sector's contribution to the health sector.
For this reason, the government is set take an initiative to fix the fees by considering the standard of the private hospitals' services.
Mentioning that private clinics are being set up all over the country, the health minister further said, "Although some of these clinics provide quality services, a large number of clinics do not provide quality medical services. These clinics do not have good quality medical equipment. All these disreputable private clinics that have grown like mushrooms across the country will be closed down."
"A specific standard for medical services will be set very soon. If that standard is not maintained, all those clinics will be closed," the minister added.
