Prime Minister and Leader of the House Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday (Jun 19) told the Jatiyo Sangsad (National Parliament) that her government has a plan to introduce health insurance for ensuring healthcare services to all.
“The present Awami League government has a plan to introduce health insurance for ensuring healthcare services to the countrymen,” she said while replying to a tabled question from a Jatiyo Party lawmaker Md. Rustum Ali Faraji, from Pirojpur-3 constituency with Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury in the chair, local media reported.
As part of this plan, health insurance has already been introduced at Madhupur, Ghatail and Kalihati upazilas in Tangail on pilot basis to ensure healthcare services to the poor people of the localities, she said.
Sheikh Hasina, also President of the ruling Bangladesh Awami League said her government has formulated Healthcare Financing Strategy 2012-2032 for ensuring universal healthcare services.
In this context, she also said that the government has taken a pilot project SSK (Shasthyo Surokhsha Karmasuchi or Social Health Protection Scheme) in line with the strategy to give free healthcare services to the poor people for ensuring universal healthcare services.
Under the SSK, the family members living under the poverty line at Kalihati, Ghatail and Madhupur upazilas of Tangail district have been imparting healthcare services free of cost for 78 admit-able diseases, the premier said, adding, “The SSK activities will be extended to all over the country once the pilot project is achieved a success.”
The PM said that registration of 27,841 families in Kalihati, 27,232 families in Ghatail and 26,455 families in Madhupur of Tangail district has already been completed while 27,841, 26,218 and 27,118 SSK cards have already been distributed among the poor people of Kalihati, Madhupur and Ghatail upazilas respectively to facilitate them with free healthcare services.
In this context, she said the work of the automation of SSK has already been started, hoping that activities of the SSK automation will start this month.
The government has a plan to bring the entire country under the health insurance coverage aimed at giving medicine and treatment to the people following recommendations of the pilot project regarding health insurance under the Health Economics unit, the premier said.
A project titled “Social Health Insurance Project” for labourers of RMG and tea gardens with the assistance of KOIKA has already been prepared, she added.
