Can the world emulate Bangladesh’s ‘Community Clinic’ model?

Photo: UN WHO

A resolution on community-based healthcare was adopted unanimously at the United Nations on May 17, 2023.

The resolution titled Community-Based Primary Health Care: A Participatory and Inclusive Approach to Achieving Universal Health Services gave international recognition to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s leadership in establishing a community clinic-based model of primary healthcare in Bangladesh in a public-private partnership.

Ambassador Mohammad Abdul Muhit, Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations, presented the resolution in the General Assembly on May 16. The resolution was co-sponsored by 70 member states of the United Nations.

Rural Bangladeshis no longer have to go through immense suffering caused by various diseases. In years past, there was no healthcare centre for treating rural inhabitants of the country. But now, one will find community clinics almost in every upazila or subdivision of Bangladesh.

Community clinics in Bangladesh have become a reference point as to how a country can successfully raise primary healthcare following the Bangladesh model. There are more than 14,000 community clinics at present in the country and the number is gradually increasing.

What is needed now is to ensure comprehensive healthcare services to rural people, and in order to do that, the government should look forward to equipping the clinics with adequate facilities and skilled manpower.

The successful operation of community clinics, especially in rural areas, depends on people with the required skills. Doctors must be trained and motivated to work in rural areas and the government should offer adequate incentives to them.

Filling the gap 

Since their inception, community clinics have been playing an important role in improving overall antenatal and postnatal care, family planning and nutritional services, providing treatment for diarrhoea, pneumonia, and other childhood infections, and counseling on the consequences of early marriage in Bangladesh.

With the integration of the ‘Community Clinic Health Assistance Trust Act’, millions of people are now able to avail services from community clinics whereas just a decade ago, healthcare facilities in rural areas were very poor.

The incumbent government deserves kudos for its relentless effort for prioritising the need for incorporating community clinics. As a consequence, community clinics are largely filling the gap in the public healthcare system.

For further development of community clinics in the country, the intervention of both public and private organisations is crucial. In this regard, corporate houses can play an effective role by spending a portion of their corporate social responsibility fund to develop the country’s healthcare sector. Also, there is a need to motivate rural people to avail healthcare services at community clinics.

Ambassador Muhith in his speech highlighted the positive impact of this resolution in achieving universal healthcare services. He referred to the approval of the resolution by UN member states as a milestone in the global effort to achieve universal healthcare by 2030.

Muhith said the successful implementation of the resolution will play an important role in improving healthcare for billions of people globally by introducing a community clinic-based healthcare system.

He also said the resolution has far-reaching implications in increasing international cooperation for achieving universal healthcare services and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

That is because it invites international financial institutions, multilateral and regional development banks and donors to provide appropriate technical and financial support for the introduction and implementation of this community clinic-based model healthcare system in member countries, especially in developing countries.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina launched the community clinic-based healthcare system in Bangladesh in 1998 with the aim of providing primary healthcare to all Bangladeshis.

The government has so far established more than 14,000 community clinics in public-private partnerships across the country to provide uninterrupted healthcare to the people.

On behalf of the Bangladesh Permanent Mission to the United Nations, the resolution was negotiated with the member states by the present representative, Mohammed Manowar Hossain.

The Mission has been playing an important role in healthcare diplomacy for the past few years. It had proposed the resolution earlier this year for the consideration of the member states.

After four months of intensive discussions and negotiations with the member states, the proposal was unanimously accepted.

Sheikh Hasina came to power in 1996 and launched the first model community clinic. Marginalised communities were the first to be provided access to healthcare through community clinics, which were later closed when the BNP came to power in 2001.

After coming back to power in 2008, Sheikh Hasina started community clinics again in 2009. Each such clinic trains and employs those who have passed 12th Grade to provide first aid. Patients can then be referred to the Upazila Health Complex and District Health Complex.

In fact, if universal healthcare is to reach people’s doorsteps, community clinics are the only model. That’s why the United Nations has adopted it.

Nandita Roy is presently residing in Australia and is originally from Dhaka, Bangladesh, She is a women and refugee’s rights activist and is currently a Ph.D. candidate in refugee affairs at Griffith University in Queensland. She received a master’s degree from the University of Dhaka’s Department of Women and Gender Studies

The article has been republished from Pressenza. Read the original article here

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