LabAid MD urges end to lobbying for foreign healthcare interests
He also criticised the exclusion of the private sector from the government’s health reform committee
Bangladesh should stop serving as a lobbyist for foreign countries in the healthcare sector, said Dr AM Shamim, LabAid Group founder and managing director.
He also stressed the need for greater recognition of private hospitals and clinics that serve the majority of patients in the country.
Dr Shamim made the remarks at an event titled Bangladesh Health Conclave 2025: Improved Healthcare, Prosperous Country, organised by daily Bonik Barta at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel in Dhaka today (30 August).
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"The private sector provides 70% of the healthcare in the country. Despite providing services to thousands of patients, we get no recognition," he said.
He said, "For 17 years, we have served as lobbyists for India. Now two patients went to China, and they were welcomed with flowers," pointing towards the country's shift in health tourism to another country.
Dr Shamim said initiatives for kidney and liver transplants in Bangladesh were halted to benefit India, and efforts to introduce robotic surgery have also faced barriers.
"Give us approval for one month, and we can show the results," he added.
He also criticised the exclusion of the private sector from the government's health reform committee.
"Who understands the private sector better than us? But we were not included. We run businesses with loans at 16% interest. We cannot be replaced by NGOs," he said.
At the same event, Dr Md Mosaddeque Hossain Biswash, president of the Bangladesh Private Hospital, Clinic and Diagnostic Owners Association, called for stricter regulation, saying no diagnostic centre should be opened without membership in the association.
Economist Wahiduddin Mahmud, former adviser to the caretaker government, attended as the chief guest.
Special guests included Md Sayedur Rahman, special assistant (state minister rank) to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare; Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, BNP Standing Committee member; and Syed Abdullah Muhammad Taher, nayeb-e-ameer of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Syed Abdullah Muhammad Taher.
Also present were Md Saidur Rahman, secretary of the Health Services Division, and Tapan Chowdhury, director of Square Group and a former adviser to the caretaker government.
