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ISLAMABAD: Bangladesh is looking towards Pakistan as an alternative healthcare destination to India for some of its nearly 800,000 patients who travel abroad annually and spend more than $6 billion on treatment, seeking easier visas, better air connectivity and access to Pakistani hospitals, officials said on Saturday.
The development comes amid changing regional dynamics following the change of government in Bangladesh in 2024, which strained traditionally close ties between Dhaka and New Delhi, while Pakistan and Bangladesh have been making efforts to improve bilateral relations and expand cooperation in different sectors.
Bangladesh High Commissioner to Pakistan Md Iqbal Hussain Khan shared the figures on his country’s outbound healthcare market during a high-level meeting with Federal Health Secretary Muhammad Aslam Ghauri and Muhammad Arshad Qaim Khani, Chief Executive Officer of the Prime Minister’s Sehat Card Programme and Chair of Pakistan’s National Health Tourism Working Group.
India has long been a major treatment destination for Bangladeshi patients because of proximity, affordability and established hospital links. However, strained Dhaka-New Delhi relations after Sheikh Hasina’s ouster in August 2024, along with restrictions on Indian visa services, have disrupted medical travel and opened space for Pakistan.
During the meeting, the Bangladeshi side sought visa facilitation, improved air connectivity and mechanisms to help its patients identify and access appropriate healthcare facilities in Pakistan.
Federal Health Secretary Muhammad Aslam Ghauri assured the High Commissioner of Pakistan’s cooperation, saying the ministry would coordinate with relevant institutions to facilitate medical travel and remove impediments faced by Bangladeshi patients.
The two sides agreed to expedite a proposed Pakistan-Bangladesh Health Cooperation Memorandum of Understanding to establish an institutional framework for cooperation in healthcare, health tourism and universal health coverage.
Pakistan also proposed promoting its leading hospitals and specialised healthcare facilities in Bangladesh and establishing a patient facilitation and grievance-redressal mechanism for Bangladeshi patients.
As part of these efforts, Pakistan plans to hold healthcare roadshows in Bangladesh to showcase its hospitals, specialised treatment facilities and medical expertise, and establish direct links between Pakistani healthcare providers and prospective Bangladeshi patients and facilitators.
Muhammad Arshad Qaim Khani said Bangladesh’s nearly 800,000 outbound patients and over $6 billion annual healthcare spending offered Pakistan a significant medical tourism opportunity. If Pakistan attracted even one-quarter of this market, around 200,000 Bangladeshi patients could seek treatment here, representing potential spending of about $1.5 billion.
He said Pakistan was developing a National Health Tourism Policy, Strategy and Roadmap under the government’s “Heal in Pakistan” initiative, but attracting such patients would require better connectivity, easier visas, hospital accreditation, marketing and patient facilitation. Pakistan also offered to share experience of the Prime Minister’s Sehat Card Programme with Bangladesh.
Commenting on the development, Dr Zakiuddin Ahmed, renowned medical tourism expert and a member of the National Health Tourism Working Group, said Pakistan could attract Bangladeshi patients as the country explored affordable and quality alternatives for overseas medical treatment.
He said Pakistan had highly trained doctors, qualified specialists and hospitals capable of providing advanced care at lower costs, but required an organised international marketing strategy. Efforts to promote medical tourism, he added, were already under way through Health Asia conferences.
Drawing lessons from Türkiye, Dr Zakiuddin said medical expertise must be backed by easier medical visas, better air links, hospital accreditation, marketing and government support. Bangladesh could become an important market if patients were linked with accredited Pakistani hospitals through trusted mechanisms.
