Public health priorities or power politics?

One of the primary responsibilities of a modern and democratic state is to ensure the fundamental rights of its citizens, particularly access to healthcare. However, recent statistics on the expansion of public hospitals in Bangladesh have exposed a deep flaw in the country’s administrative and political decision-making. Of the 2,879 new hospital beds approved between 17 February and 22 September, approximately 93 per cent were allocated to the home districts and constituencies of ministers in power. In contrast, many peripheral hospitals struggling to accommodate several times their capacity have been severely neglected.
The politicisation of a sensitive sector such as public health is not merely a deviation from sound policy; it is a form of systemic social injustice. An analysis of the Directorate General of Health Services’ own data reveals that these bed allocations were not made according to scientific assessments or healthcare needs. According to 2024 figures, Mymensingh Medical College Hospital recorded a bed occupancy rate of 329 per cent, the highest in the country. Reportedly, thousands of beds have been added to hospitals facing comparatively less pressure, apparently because they are located in the home districts of influential ministers.
The bed occupancy rate should form the foundation of an impartial healthcare system. When government decisions are driven by personal or political interests rather than public needs, they erode public trust in the system. Health experts have long emphasised the need to strengthen major regional hospitals and medical centres in surrounding areas to ease the pressure on hospitals in the capital, Dhaka. Sadly however, this imperative is being sacrificed at the altar of political expediency.
Of course, infrastructure development is necessary in remote and underdeveloped regions. However, such development should be guided by clear policies aimed at reducing regional disparities, not used as a means for ministers to expand their political influence. Although the Ministry of Health claims that projects are undertaken on the basis of need, the reality appears to tell a different story.
Keeping public interest beyond the reach of political power is a hallmark of responsible governance. So, decisions concerning hospital expansion must never be treated as gifts bestowed by a privileged political class. Instead, they must be guided by equity, administrative transparency, and institutional principles. That the value of citizens’ lives takes precedence over political allegiance should be the fundamental philosophy of state governance.