An article on NPR called The Doctor Will Skype You Now: Virtual Checkups Reach Bangladesh’s Isolated Islands, discusses the barrier to public health of location/access in Bangladesh’s remote islands. The article discusses the health care situation on Chars — “low-lying, temporary sand islands that are continuously formed and destroyed through silt deposition and erosion. They’re home to over six million people, “. The article states:
“Yet for many char inhabitants — some of Bangladesh’s poorest — paying for health care is a costly ordeal. Victims of erosion lose their houses, agricultural land and jobs as farmers, fishers and day laborers. Though government hospitals are free, many people hesitate to go, citing long commutes, endless lines and questionable diagnoses. For convenience sake, one-third of rural households visit unqualified village doctors, called “kabirajs,” who rely on unscientific methods of treatment, according to a 2016 study in the peer-reviewed journal Global Health Action.”
The physician, Dr. Tina Mustahid, livestreams from Dhaka for free remote medical consultations.
“Even off the chars, Bangladesh faces a critical deficit of health services. The country has half the doctors-per-person ratio recommended by the World Health Organization: Roughly one doctor per 2,000 people, instead of one doctor per 1,000 people. And of those physicians, many are concentrated in cities: 70% of the country’s population live in rural areas, yet less than 20% of health workers practice there.”
HEALTH CONVERSATIONS: When Aware We Care 