Photo: Collected
Metropolis Report –
Bangladesh holds every possibility of replicating 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.
Senior politicians, industrialists, leading businessmen, top civil and military bureaucrats, well-off people go to countries like India, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and UAE to get avail themselves of better treatment.
With the economy growing substantially over the last 20 years, Bangladesh has become a major contributor to the Thai medical tourism sector.
The data can be seen in a visualized statistic published by the Visual Capitalist with data from the IMF.
About 4,300 Bangladeshi medical tourists contributed some 6.7 billion Thai baht to the economy of Thailand in 2019, according to sources of Ministries of Tourism and Sports, said a Thai diplomat in Dhaka recently.
According to sources, 85% of total outbound Bangladeshi patients get treatment in India, some 10% in Thailand and the rest in Singapore, Malaysia, the UK, USA and China.
According to Thai immigration, a total of 139,622 Bangladeshi tourists visited Thailand in the last few years, including 21,817 in 2020, 1,955 in 2021 and 6,319 during January-June period of 2022.
The outbreak of the Covid-19 restricted movement of travelers across the globe during 2020, 2021 and in the early 2022.
The number of Bangladeshi tourists dropped in 2020 and 2021 and started picking up this year slightly.
Thailand expects tourist numbers to more than triple to nearly 1 million per month from October as the nation lifts most of the pandemic-era travel restrictions.
Malaysia is increasingly becoming a top choice for Bangladeshi medical tourists as the Southeast Asian country has been working hard to establish itself as a leading destination for healthcare services.
The number of Bangladeshis going to Malaysia for treatment was around 50,000 in 2018 and this year’s growth rate is on track, according to a top official of the Malaysian government.
“Last year Malaysia Healthcare served more than 1.2 million healthcare travellers globally. Of them, nearly 50,000 were from Bangladesh,” Sherene Azli, CEO of the Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council (MHTC), a wing of the finance ministry.
Addressing a group of Bangladeshi journalists who were there on a four-day visit, she said this year’s growth rate – 14 percent – in the five months till May is also very encouraging for Malaysia.
“Inflow of healthcare travellers is rising because of the world-class quality service we provide at affordable cost,” she said.
Malaysia has also been internationally recognised for its achievement in medical healthcare.
Azli said the Southeast Asian country was adjudged the “Best Country in the World for Healthcare” from 2015 to 2019. A US-based International Medical Travel Journal also commended Malaysia for its impressive improvement in medical treatment.
“As we move into 2020, we want more healthcare travellers to come and experience Malaysia Healthcare,” she said, adding that Malaysia would observe 2020 as a “Year of Healthcare Travel”.
Malaysia is getting ready to offer more for everyone next year, she noted without elaborating on those initiatives.
In 2014, a total of 204,418 Bangladeshis visited Malaysia in 2014, a total of 147,152 Bangladeshis in 2015, a total of 114,607 Bangladeshis in 2016, a total of 111,836 in 2017, a total of 150,054 in 2018, a total of 179,000 in 2019, 17,461 Bangladeshis in 2020, 1,445 Bangladeshis in 2021 and 12,595 Bangladeshis during January-June period of the current calendar year.
Meanwhile, after India opened its countries to international tourists, some 2.4 lakh Bangladeshis visited India during January-October period of the current calendar year.
The High Commission of India issued over 2.50 million visas in 2019 to Bangladeshis a year before the corona pandemic hit the world.
the High Commission of India issued over 2.50 million visas in 2019 to Bangladeshis a year before the corona pandemic hit the world.
Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, also a popular destination of medical tourism, issue over three hundred visas to Bangladeshis per year, including a good number of that is medical visa.
According to available sources said some 20-25 per cent of Bangladeshis, who visit neighbouring India every year, are medical tourists.
India has been a medical tourism destination for over a decade now as a lot of people come to India every year for medical treatment. Most of the people coming are generally from Asian and African countries. A small number of people also come from so-called bubble countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. According to data, around 697,453 foreign tourists came for medical treatment in India in the year 2019.
Because of the coronavirus pandemic, following which lockdowns were imposed and flights were abruptly cancelled between various Asian and African countries, this number saw a dip. But the total tourist inflow can be seen picking up gradually now. With the removal of lockdowns and travel restrictions across borders globally, Indian medical tourism seeks progress in a number of critical cases like organ transplants and other severe cases.
According to Amit Sharma – Founder and CEO, eExpedise – India stands on 6th rank in the medical tourism industry, the quality of its medical services has catapulted its image immensely as a developed nation.
“The statistics show the year 2017 was remarkable for Indian medical tourism as it was able to generate Rs.1,77,874 crore foreign exchange earnings. Medical industry giants are making financial investments to extend a dedicated institutional framework to promote wellness tourism in the country,” said Amit Sharma
Dr Syed Abdul Hamid, a professor at the Institute of Health Economics of the University of Dhaka, while talking to this correspondent, said “Health sector is neglected in Bangladesh, and better health management and Medicare, higher training of physicians, nurses and technicians and commitment on the part of the government can help improve health system in the country and rein in the tendency of patients going abroad.’
He obtained his PhD in Economics from the University of Sheffield (UK) and M.Sc. in Health Economics from the University of York (UK). Previously, he obtained his BSS (Hons.) and MSS in Economics from the University of Dhaka.
Dr Hamid has 23 years’ experience of teaching and research in health economics and published widely in the peer reviewed international journals.
While sharing the success of medical tourism in Thailand, Thai Trade Counsellor in Dhaka Khemathat Archawathamrong told the News Times that Bangladesh can also be successful in the sector through improving nursing and ensuring dedication of its physicians towards their patients.
Former Regional Adviser to World Health Organization (WHO) Muzaherul Huq while talking to The News Times said that Bangladesh can develop medical tourism targeting citizens of North-east India and Nepal.
But, Muzaherul Huq, also former senior adviser to 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.
Huq who worked in Kathmandu during his medical career said that Nepal has improved medical tourism in recent years targeting Indian tourism.
He said “Bangladesh has the largest sea beach in Cox’s Bazar. Patients will come to get treatment and see the beauty of the beach. Against this backdrop, Bangladesh will have to improve local and tourism and health system.”
Meanwhile, though Bangladeshis spend several billion US dollars every year on treatment abroad, the central bank statistics show peanuts of that medical tourism, according to economists, policy-makers, bankers and physicians.
The banking and income tax systems of the country need an overhaul to help estimate the cost of medical tourism abroad, said a former member of National Board of Revenue (NBR) while talking to The Dhaka Tribune recently.
Md Serajul Islam, former Executive Director of Bangladesh Bank, while talking to the daily said Bangladeshis abroad spent 2.2 million US dollar in 2018-19 fiscal year, 1.6 million US dollars in 2019-20, 1.6 million US dollars in 2020-21 fiscal and 05.0 million US dollars during the July-September period of the current fiscal year while taking treatment abroad.
The treatment cost in Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia are 4/5 times higher than it is in Bangladesh. Even treatment costs in major Indian cities like Mumbai, New Delhi, Hyderabad and Chennai are also expensive.
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.
“Though reliable and proper statistics are unavailable, entrepreneurs of the country have invested nearly taka 200,000 crore in the health sector during the last 20 years,” said Managing Director Managing Director of LABAID Cardiac Hospital Dr Abu M Shamim while talking to The News Times.
Besides major cities of the country, the government has set up several hundred hospitals at district and upazilla levels to reach health services to grassroot levels.
“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.
Though entrepreneurs started investing in the health sector since 1990, the country witnessed a momentum in investment since 2000, “said Dr Abu M Shamim
“The development of the health sector by Bangladeshi entrepreneurs in the country during the last 20 years have offered quality treatment to thousands of patients in the country. During the pandemic period, leading politicians, business leaders, high civil and military bureaucrats and well-off section of the society took treatment in the country as international travel ban was imposed on Bangladesh by major countries. The local healthcare offered the best possible treatment to Bangladeshi patients during the pandemic period, “Dr Abu M Shamim.
The country in the last 15-20 years has witnessed setting up of some posh and high-end hospitals like Square Hospitals, United Hospitals, Apollo Hospitals (now Evercare Hospital), Lab Aid Hospital, Green Life Hospitals, Popular Life Hospital, Ali Asghar Hospitals, Ayesha Memorial Hospitals and some 200 low and mid-level hospitals.
The cost of open-heart surgery in Bangladesh hovers taka 2,00,000 -300,000 in Bangladesh, the same treatment costs taka 10,00,000 -15,00,000 and taka 20,00,000-25,00,000 in Singapore.
Most patients with complications in heart, neuro and eye go to India, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore to avail themselves of the better treatment.
Under the existing rules of Bangladesh Bank, a person can carry up to 12,000 US dollars on medical purpose without BB permission while going abroad.
Dr Syed Abdul Hamid, a professor at the Institute of Health Economics of the University of Dhaka, while talking to The Dhaka Tribune, said that data of Bangladesh Bank on treatment cost abroad is very low compared to the patients and their relatives spend in reality.
Dr Syed Abdul Hamid said that Bangladesh Bank and National Board of Revenue (NBR) can estimate the cost of medical tourism abroad, provided some steps are taken by authorities concerned of the government.
“Foreign missions in Dhaka can provide data on medical visas to authorities concerned of Bangladesh that, in turn, can help prepare a sound paper on medical tourism abroad, said Dr Syed Abdul Hamid.
Mahbub Ahmed, a former secretary of the Bangladesh government, while this correspondent said that Bangladesh Bank, National Board of Revenue (NBR), commercial banks, BIDS, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) and research institutes can do work on medical tourism abroad.
