DECCA, 14 November 2020, (TON): China, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia have proposed to the Bangladesh government constructing international standard hospitals in Bangladesh during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The three countries have mentioned that a large number of Bangladeshi patients go to seek better treatment abroad. So, the three countries are interested in building hospitals similar to Singapore's Mount Elizabeth Hospital and Thailand's Bumrungrad Hospital.  The three countries have sent their proposal separately. They have claimed guaranteed land for their project to construct hospitals. They also have looked for land near Dhaka city. Besides this, China is willing to build the hospital at the divisional and district level if the land is not available around Dhaka.

According to officials from the health ministry and Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA), all of the proposals are under the consideration of the government. Still now, the government is not sure to give them land properly because of the scarcity of land. BIDA executive chairman Sirazul Islam added, "Turkey wants to improve bilateral relationship with Bangladesh building hospital even though Bangladesh has a strong relationship with Turkey. Individually, Engineering Dimension of Saudi Arabia and China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC) have expressed their eagerness to construct hospitals in Bangladesh. We have informed these to the health ministry".

The CMEC of China has assured that the hospital will be 50 thousand beds and, 70 percent of doctors and nurses will appoint from Bangladesh. The rest of the 30 percent will be from abroad. It will manage a training institute for the doctor, nurse, and technicians. The treatment costs in their hospital will be minimal than the international standard hospitals by considering the Bangladeshi people's affordability. For this purpose, On 20 October, an inter-ministerial meeting was held to assess the proposal of CMEC in the Bangladesh Secretariat.

As per various statistics, nearly 2.5 million to 3 million Bangladesh patients go abroad for treatment every year, and the majority goes to the nearest country, India. If the Bangladesh government allows these proposals, it will be helpful for the Bangladeshi patient.