The government is examining a proposal of Chinese state-owned construction company to build a hospital chain in Bangladesh with 50,000 beds while Saudi Arabia is looking for a suitable land in Tejgaon industrial area for a modern hospital.

Turkey also discussed the possibility of investing in Bangladesh’s health sector during a meeting with Bangladesh Investment Development Authority in late October.

BIDA executive chairman Sirazul Islam told New Age on Thursday that they were considering the letter of intent from the Chinese company, China Machinery Engineering Corporation, and examining whether Bangladesh really needs a 50,000-bed hospital chain.

Another senior official at BIDA said that capacity in hospitals in Bangladesh stands at 20,000 beds altogether and many patients travel to various countries seeking better medical treatment.

‘We sent the letter of intent to the health ministry  for its decision. A meeting was held after the formation of a joint committee to set terms and conditions of the construction process of the hospitals. Many issues are still under discussions, including how it will be operated and under which management,’ the officials said.

BIDA officials also added that the CMEC, a construction and engineering company of the China National Machinery Industry Corporation (Sinomach) group of companies, had already been working in Bangladesh in the power and energy sector, but now they were turning their focus on the health sector.

Saidur Rahman, an additional secretary of the Health Services Division of the health ministry, told New Age on Wednesday that they already discussed the proposal of the Chinese company but they needed further evaluation of the total process, including issues related to the management of the hospital and whether it would be built under public-private-partnership or under government-to-government agreement.

He said that they would convene another meeting next week to discuss these issues. About Saudi Arabian investment, Saidur Rahman said that the Middle Eastern country has been proposing for building medical facilities especially burn units since 2017.

‘We have submitted a development project proposal in response to the discussion we had with the Saudi Arabian authorities but the issue was still pending,’ he added.

About the Saudi investment, BIDA executive chairman Sirazul said that the Saudi authorities wanted a piece of land in Tejgaon industrial area and the industries ministry was now evaluating the scopes.

He also said that in a recent meeting with the Turkish ambassador in Dhaka Mustafa Osman Turan held at the end of October, they also discussed the possibilities of investing in the health sector but nothing was conclusive yet.

Shantanu Majumder, who teaches political science at Dhaka University, observed that Bangladesh’s geopolitical importance was growing and it is attracting powerful countries that are showing interest in investing here.

Likewise, he said both India and China want to be in the good books of Bangladesh but Bangladesh should examine the terms and references before allowing the investment.

Many Bangladeshis, especially people in northern Bangladesh, travel to India for medical treatment instead of visiting Dhaka as they do not have any alternatives, the professor said, adding, ‘We need hospitals.’

India’s medical tourism sector is a growing source of foreign exchange as well as prestige and goodwill outside the country and even in the COVID-19 situation, Bangladeshis were regularly travelling to India for treatment.

The US-Bangla Airlines spokesman Kamrul Islam said they started daily flight since October 29 and average 40 passengers were travelling to Chennai by air while 4,318 people, mostly patients, left Bangladesh through the Benapol land port in October amid the pandemic.

According to the Indian home ministry, the percentage share of foreign tourist arrivals in India during February 2020 was the highest from Bangladesh among the top 15 source countries — it stood at 21.19 per cent.

One in three foreign patients in India is from Bangladesh, according to the Indian Directorate-General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics.

Of the 4,60,000 inbound patients in Indian hospitals, more than 1,65,000 were from Bangladesh in 2016 and they spent over $343 million on services, Indian newspaper Business Standard said quoting the Indian DGCIS statistics of 2015-16 financial year.

Indian home ministry reported the maximum number of foreigners who visited India between January 1, 2018 and March 31, 2019 were from Bangladesh and the number was 28,76,064.

Bangladesh’s immigration officials estimated that 35 per cent of them were on medical visa while 15 per cent of those who travelled on tourist visas also took medical treatment.