Bangladeshis spend over $5b abroad on treatment: Mansur

Bangladeshi nationals spend more than $5 billion annually on medical treatment abroad, according to Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr. Ahsan H. Mansur.

He said this at a workshop titled ‘Cross Border Data Flow: Bangladesh Perspective’ jointly organized by the Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh (PRI) and the World Bank on Sunday.

The governor said that most Bangladeshis go to India and Thailand for medical treatment, because the healthcare systems of these countries are better than Bangladesh’s.

However, a large part of this expenditure is sent informally, which creates considerable pressure on the country’s balance of payments or foreign transactions.

He also mentioned that this trend of people going abroad for advanced medical treatment reflects the limitations of the country’s medical system and the lack of specialized treatment.