Govt to launch free health facilities for poor
Project to cover all by 2032
The government has decided to introduce a health policy free of cost for those living below the poverty level in the country, while the entire population will get health facilities by 2032 under this project.
We hope the health policy will begin formally in January on a pilot project basis. Health cards will be issued to the poor so that they can avail of health services free of cost, health minister Mohammad Nasim told reporters, after a signing ceremony at the Secretariat yesterday.
The pilot scheme will be launched at three upazilasKalihati, Ghatail and Madhupurin Tangail district, the minister said, adding that primarily one lakh health cards would issued to indigent people in these upazilas.
The director general of the Health Economics Unit, Ashadul Islam, and director of Green Delta Insurance Company, Farzana Chowdhury, signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organisations. Health secretary Syed Manjurul Islam, director general of the health directorate, Deen Mohammad Nurul Huq, and other high-ranking officials were present at the signing ceremony.
The government will primarily give a premium of Tk. 1,000 per family annually for poor people living below the poverty level. They will get health service facilities of the highest amount of Tk. 50,000 for 50 diseases, including medicines, free of cost, explained Mohammad Nasim.
The government has taken the initiative to ensure health services for the hard-core poor under the health safety programme, he said.
The funds for premiums and other expenditures would primarily be collected from the health, population and nutrition development sector projects. Later, the funds will be collected from government allocations and from the countrys rich families, he added.
The first phase of the programme will be launched in three upazilas in Tangail and the programme will be expanded to other parts of the country in phases after evaluation, the health minister said.
The government has already identified the poor families living under poverty level and health cards will be distributed among them, he said in reply to a query. Members of such families could take admission to hospitals for treatment using the health cards, he added.
According to the Green Delta Insurance Company, the government will provide health facilities for 25 per cent of the total population, as per the data of the planning ministry. The duration of the agreement is for a year, but it can be expanded.
