Health and Family Welfare Minister Sardar Md Sakhawat Hossain has said the government is working to close gaps in disease diagnosis and improve healthcare services, particularly in rural and underserved areas, through greater use of technology.
Speaking at the opening of the two-day international conference, Appropriate Technology for Healthcare in Low- and Middle-Income Countries, at the University of Dhaka Senate Building on Sunday, the minister said the government had doubled the health sector allocation in the national budget to help achieve that objective.
The conference was jointly organised by the Department of Biomedical Physics and Technology at the University of Dhaka, the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), the Department of Clinical Oncology at Bangladesh Medical University, BiBeat Limited and the Relevant Science and Technology Society.
Sakhawat Hossain said expanding technology-based healthcare services was essential to strengthening the country's diagnostic capacity. He said the government was implementing a range of initiatives to improve access to quality medical care for rural and marginalised communities.
"Patients in remote areas are still being deprived of proper healthcare services. The government is committed to improving this situation quickly. To achieve this goal, the health sector allocation has been doubled in the national budget," he said.
The minister also expressed concern over the current dengue outbreak, saying some hospitals were under severe pressure and had been forced to accommodate between 30 and 40 dengue patients in a single room.
Highlighting local innovation, he praised the University of Dhaka's telemedicine programme, which uses technologies such as online 12-lead electrocardiograms (ECG) and electronic stethoscopes. He said integrating such technologies into the government's new rural healthcare programme could significantly improve medical services outside major cities.
Sakhawat Hossain urged doctors and nurses responding to the dengue and measles outbreaks to continue their work with patience and professionalism. He added that strengthening the country's diagnostic system through advanced technology remained one of the government's highest priorities and confirmed that hospitals had been instructed not to discharge dengue patients until they had fully recovered.
During the inaugural session, conference chairman Professor Khondkar Siddique-e-Rabbani reviewed Bangladesh's progress in healthcare technology innovation since 1978. Vice-chairman Professor Toufiq Hasan presented biomedical technologies developed at BUET and discussed opportunities for entrepreneurship in the sector.
Technical sessions on the opening day covered topics including postpartum haemorrhage prevention, oral rehydration programmes, children's neurological development, dry eye treatment, diabetic foot ulcer prevention, artificial intelligence, electrical bio-impedance and affordable medical technologies.
Participants also proposed establishing two international initiatives—the Global Institute of Appropriate Technology for Mankind and the Global Alliance for Equalising Access to Healthcare Technology—to reduce inequalities in access to medical technologies across developing countries.
The second day of the conference will focus on cancer treatment, palliative care, prevention of hospital-acquired infections, low-cost medical technologies and the application of artificial intelligence in healthcare.
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