1st joint working group meeting on health services today
Bangladesh, Thailand to discuss synergy in health services industry
Health services have been identified as an important area that has potential of trade and investment
collaboration, technical cooperation and skill development between Bangladesh and Thailand health-related industry
UNB
The first meeting of Bangladesh-Thailand Joint Working Group on Health Services will be held in the capital today, aiming to discuss cooperation in the health services industry, reports UNB.
A high-profile 10-member delegation from the Ministry of Public Health of Thailand was scheduled to arrive in Dhaka yesterday evening to join the meeting, said an official.
The delegation will be led by Jirot Sindhvananda, Senior Advisor of International Medicine of the Ministry of Public Health of Thailand.
It will comprise other senior officials of the Ministry of Public Health of Thailand, Thailands Government Pharmaceutical Organization, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Board of Trade and Private Hospital Association of Thailand.
During the first meeting on health services, the Thai delegation will hold official talks with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to identify and discuss mandated bilateral areas of cooperation on health-related trade and services.
Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Biman Kumar Saha is expected to lead the Bangladesh delegation which also comprises Bangladesh Ambassador to Thailand Saida Muna Tasneem, senior officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Commerce, Board of Investment, Directorate of Health Services, Directorate of Family Planning, Directorate of General Drug Administration.
Private sector members of the Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce Industry, Bangladesh Association of Pharmaceutical Industries and Bangladesh Private Clinic Diagnostic Owners Association are also expected to attend the meeting.
The Joint Working Groups meeting comes as preparatory to the proposed 4th meeting of the Bangladesh-Thailand Joint Trade Committee to be held in Dhaka in the second half of 2016.
The meeting as preparations for the Joint Trade Committee will also finalise the recommendations to be submitted to the 4th meeting of the Joint Trade Committee.
The Thai delegation is also scheduled to visit Private Hospitals in Dhaka, including Kurmitola General Hospital Dhaka and Private Pharmaceutical Industries in Tongi, to inspect the services of the hospitals and the production process of Bangladeshs Pharmaceutical industries on the ground.
Health services have been identified as an important area that has potential of trade and investment collaboration, technical cooperation and skill development between Bangladesh and Thailand health-related industry.
In 2015, nearly 110,000 Bangladeshi tourists visited Thailand to avail themselves of health and medical services, a sector in which Bangladeshi tourists have been listed within top 10 spenders contributing to revenues in Thai medical tourism industry as reported in Thai Tourism Ministrys most recent report.
Bangladeshi medical tourists are also the largest numbers within Asia of critical patients flown in using air ambulance services from Dhaka and constitute largest segment of Thai visa seekers from Dhaka.
