Bangladesh health care sector started its intricate expedition with less than insignificant health facilities in terms of human resources and hospitals/health centres at the dawn of independence. For a long time, shortage of doctors and hospitals has been the key words in our health service. The country now has over 33,000 registered doctors -- whereas the number of physicians in 1972 was 731 at120 hospitals. By 1986 we had about 16,000 physicians and, eventually, Bangladesh managed expansion of health care facilities through a cross-country network. There were only 120 hospitals with around 9,000 beds in 1971 when we had barely any private hospital or clinic. But at present the number of hospital beds rose to more than 44,000 in government and about 12,000 in private hospitals. As well as reduction of the fertility rate and childhood mortality remains a couple of remarkable success. Then again, we will have to admit that we are not yet prepared for a better and standard health system, especially in the villages much remains to be done. The existing health care system failed in many sectors due to lack of proper accountability and client confidence in it. In fact, we are not poor in human resources; we are poor in health services management.

Health care situation at a glance
Indicator Available data
Number of registered physicians (appr) 34,000
Number of registered nurses (appr) 18,000
Number of registered midwifes (appr) 16,000
Physician to nurse ratio 2 to 1
Pregnant women attended by trained personnel during pregnancy(%) 34.7
Life expectancy at birth (years), 1970 44
Life expectancy at birth (years), 2003 62
Infant mortality rate (per 1000 live births) 46
Under-five mortality rate (per 1000 live births) 69
Avoidable blindness (Total) 80% due to cataract 6.5 million
Blind Children-2/3rd is treatable & preventable 40,000
% of under-fives suffering from underweight

(moderate & severe) (1995-2003) 48
% of urban population using improved drinking water sources 82
Total Expenditure on Health (THE) as % of Gross

Domestic Product (GDP) 3.8
Private Expenditure on Health (PvtHE) as

% of Total Expenditure on Health (THE) 63.5
Public Expenditure on Health (PHE) as % of Total

Expenditure on Health (THE) 36.5
% of total population using adequate sanitation facilities 48
% of urban population using adequate sanitation facilities 75
% of rural population using adequate sanitation facilities 39
% of total population using adequate sanitation facilities 48

Main data sources: WHO,UNICEF, United Nations Statistics Division, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Bangladesh, Demographic and Health Survey, Int.