Healthcare system must identify risks and diseases before they become severe: Zubaida

Renowned cardiologist and Ziaur Rahman Foundation (ZRF) Vice President Dr Zubaida Rahman today (13 September) said the healthcare system must identify health risks and diseases before they become severe, stressing that healthcare is not a privilege but a basic human right.

"Our healthcare system cannot be built around treatment alone. We often say prevention is better than cure, and that remains true. The healthcare system must identify risks and diseases before they become severe," she said.

Zubaida made the remarks while addressing a special international seminar titled "Health Innovation for All: Expanding Access to Affordable and Inclusive Care" as the chief guest on the second day of the three-day "Bangladesh Innovation Fair 2026" at Novo Theatre in the capital's Agargaon.

The session focused on technology-driven ways of delivering modern healthcare at affordable costs to marginalised communities.

Zubaida said the sophistication of hospitals or the advancement of technology could not be used alone to judge the level of healthcare in a country.

She said many people reach specialist hospitals only after their conditions have become complicated, while patients often travel long distances because necessary services are unavailable closer to their homes. "Modern tertiary healthcare has also become extremely expensive. But this is not only for Bangladesh; many advanced countries are facing this worldwide," she said.

The ZRF vice president said the goal should be to make healthcare accessible even in the remotest villages of Bangladesh.

"We want to make healthcare accessible to the remotest villages of our country. More than 90,000 villages in our country should receive accessible healthcare for every citizen of Bangladesh," she said.

Zubaida called for strengthening dengue awareness programmes and encouraging measles vaccination so that no one misses it.

Describing cardiovascular diseases as one of the major causes of disability and death in Bangladesh, she said, "Simple lifestyle preventive measures combined with excellent treatment facilities can change this scenario."

The ZRF vice president also called for extensive cancer awareness programmes.

About diabetes, she said that although Bangladesh has internationally reputed institutions and expertise in healthcare, many people continue to live with diabetes without knowing it.

Zubaida stressed that every screening programme should be connected to confirmatory diagnosis, counselling, treatment, medicines, monitoring and referral.

She said Bangladesh could also begin preparing for the health needs of an ageing society, including dementia, Parkinson's disease and other diseases affecting geriatric populations.

The cardiologist said the country's health vision should be based on a clear principle that quality healthcare should not be a privilege determined by income, location or social status. "It should be accessible to every citizen in every part of Bangladesh," she said.

She said the vision includes strengthening primary healthcare, bringing care closer to home, expanding preventive programmes, developing the health workforce and gradually increasing public investment in health towards 5% of gross domestic product.

"The planned recruitment of 100,000 health workers, particularly, gives an opportunity for women and can create the human foundation for this transformation," Zubaida said.

She said the health workers could support screening, maternal and child health, health education, chronic disease management and referrals within communities.

"In our country, women travel miles in inadequately equipped transport in the late stages of pregnancy or in cases of pre-eclampsia. Prematurely born babies have no proper facilities to thrive," Zubaida said.

She stressed the need for a smooth referral system to move patients from community and primary care facilities to district and specialist hospitals.

The ZRF vice president also called for a nationally coordinated system covering voluntary blood donation, safe collection, infectious disease screening, component separation, storage, transportation and complete traceability from donor to patient. "We need to move towards establishing a national plasma transport technology," she said.

She said innovation will be central to all these efforts, but innovation does not always mean inventing an expensive machine or launching another application. "The most valuable innovation is the one that solves a real problem for patients around the country," she said.

Zubaida said Bangladesh already has many of the institutions needed to make such a transformation possible.

"We have respected researchers, a strong pharmaceutical base, experienced clinicians, expanding digital capability, community-level organisations, and an energetic generation of entrepreneurs," she said, adding that what is often missing is the connection between them.

The ZRF vice president said research could connect with validation, validation with regulation, regulation with responsible procurement, and innovation with service delivery.

She said the next chapter could connect Bangladesh's innovative capacity with an inclusive national healthcare system that finds illness earlier, brings care closer to home, guarantees the foundations of safe treatment and protects families from avoiding financial hardship. "Let us use this innovation fair not only to discuss what is possible, but to agree on what we will begin doing now," she said.

The three-day fair, being held under the theme "Innovate to Market", will end tomorrow (14 September).

Prime Minister Tarique Rahman inaugurated the event yesterday (12 September), with research teams from various universities and research institutions across the country participating alongside innovators.