People are losing money as well as patients because of substandard private healthcare service in the country, said TIB at a press brief yesterday.
Bribes play a big part in registration and renewal of institutions which provide low quality health service to the patients. At the programme held at its office, Transparency International, Bangladesh (TIB) presented a research report titled "Private Healthcare Service: Challenge of Good Governance and Way to Overcome".
Collecting data from various private health service providers, TIB found a tendency of profit-seeking and taking extra charges against services.
Executive Director of TIB Dr Ifekharuzzman said an independent and neutral healthcare service commission can be formed to observe and control the sector while the commission would find solutions to the problems the sector is embroiled with.
The organisation presented a survey conducted last year on 116 registered private healthcare organisations among which a total of 97 were found to have no clearance from the Department of Environment.
On the other hand, 32 of those lack hygienic environment, 77 do not have separate toilets for male and female, and 42 are being run illegally in residential areas.
The report also unveiled that illegal transactions, ranging from Tk 5,000 to Tk 3 lakh, are being made for those institutions' registration while Tk 500 to Tk 50,000 are being taken for their registration renewal.
Programme Manager of TIB Research and Policy Department Taslima Akter and its Deputy Programme Manager Md Zulkernain presented the report.
Advocate Sultana Kamal, president of TIB's Board of Trustees; Prof Sumaiya Khair, advisor, executive management, and Mohammed Rafiqul Islam, director of research and policy department, were also present.
