Critical care bed availability remains only 1.7 per 100,000 people; calls for district-level ICU expansion and advanced ambulance services.
38 Districts in Bangladesh Still Without ICU Facilities, Says Dr. Zobaida Rahman
Bangladesh faces a severe shortage of critical care services, with only 1.7 ICU beds per 100,000 people and no ICU facilities in 38 districts, according to Dr. Zobaida Rahman. Speaking at the BSCCM National Conference 2026, she urged the government to expand ICU services, strengthen emergency transport, and increase skilled healthcare personnel.
Bangladesh is facing a critical shortage of intensive care services, with only 1.7 critical care beds per 100,000 people and 38 of the country's 64 districts lacking any Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Dr. Zobaida Rahman said on Wednesday.
Speaking at the inauguration of the Bangladesh Society of Critical Care Medicine (BSCCM) National Conference 2026 at Hotel InterContinental in Dhaka, the Vice-President of the Ziaur Rahman Foundation highlighted the country's widening gap in access to critical care.
She said Bangladesh has only nine general hospital beds per 100,000 population, while 80–90 percent of all critical care units are concentrated in Dhaka, leaving rural populations with limited access to life-saving treatment.
Despite the shortage of infrastructure and resources, Dr. Rahman praised physicians across the country for their dedication, saying they continue to save lives through tireless service under challenging conditions.
She noted that nearly 70 percent of Bangladesh's population lives in rural areas, yet critically ill patients—including newborns, pregnant women, stroke victims, pneumonia patients, and road accident casualties—often die because advanced care remains unavailable outside major cities.
Dr. Rahman also pointed to an acute shortage of specialist physicians, including anesthesiologists, cardiologists and neurologists, alongside a lack of trained nurses and advanced medical equipment. She called for long-term planning and coordinated investment to strengthen the country's critical care system.
Emphasizing emergency transportation, she said that while establishing ICUs in every remote area may not be immediately feasible, well-equipped advanced ambulances could significantly improve survival by transporting critically ill patients quickly to district hospitals. She urged the government to ensure at least one fully functional critical care unit in every district hospital.
At the event, Social Welfare Minister Prof. Dr. AZM Zahid Hossain stressed that every medical specialty should be allowed to develop according to the country's healthcare needs. He recalled that the expansion of specialist medical education initiated in 2004 enabled Bangladesh to produce the skilled workforce that later played a vital role during the COVID-19 pandemic.
He also noted that Bangladesh's first formal critical care training programme was introduced during the government of former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia, following studies of leading international healthcare institutions, including the Mayo Clinic, the CDC in Atlanta and Johns Hopkins Hospital.
//NN/EK//
