It was revealed at a policy dialogue on "Interaction between Service Providers and Community Leaders and Community Participation" held yesterday at the National Economic Council auditorium. Finance Minister M Saifur Rahman attended the dialogue as the chief guest.

While portraying the comparative facilities the richest and the poorest people receive from the public healthcare subsidies, Nazmul Haq, assistant professor, department of statistics, Jahangirnagar University, also pointed out that expenditures by the NGO facilities are relatively progressive, benefiting the poor more than the rich, while private as well as public provisions were least progressive.

Presenting his keynote paper titled "Health and Family Planning Programmes in Bangladesh", Nazmul also said though fees charged in the government facilities are not a large burden for the poor, the informal fees required in the same are sometimes higher than the official ones.

Identifying the country's huge population a big obstacle, Saifur said it would be difficult to pull Bangladesh out of the mire of poverty if the population growth cannot be checked.

Saifur also took the opportunity to take a dig at the journalists, saying they (journalists) are enjoying greater freedom than those of the USA and the UK and in some cases, abusing it.

UNFPA Representative Suneeta Mukherjee, Planning Division Secretary M Akhter Hossain and Member of the Planning Commission KMSA Kaiser also spoke on the occasion.