Bangladesh’s healthcare sector is projected to expand significantly, reaching a market valuation of $23 billion by 2030, according to estimates unveiled during the final session of the Bangladesh Investment Summit in Dhaka.

The projection, presented during a breakout session focused on healthcare, underlines the country’s ambitions to emerge as a prominent destination for foreign direct investment (FDI) in the medical and health services domain.

As of January 2025, Bangladesh’s healthcare sector was approximately $14 billion. This includes a range of services and industries, such as hospitals, clinics, diagnostic and pathology centers, pharmaceutical manufacturing—including active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs)—and medical equipment.

The market’s anticipated growth is being driven by a combination of demographic and structural factors, including rising domestic demand, a rapidly expanding middle class, and mounting strain on public healthcare infrastructure.

Md Saidur Rahman, Secretary of the Health Services Division, stated that government capacity alone is insufficient to ensure healthcare delivery for a population exceeding 170 million.

He called for increased private sector participation and foreign investment to meet growing demand. Acknowledging the public system’s current limitations, he urged collaborative solutions that leverage domestic and international expertise.

The conversation on the sector’s trajectory also featured Sylvana Quader Sinha, CEO and founder of Praava Health, who highlighted the industry’s promise and challenges.

Referring to a recent report by Inspira Advisory and Consulting Limited titled ‘Bangladesh’s Healthcare Sector Coming of Age,’ Sinha noted that the sector has recorded an average annual growth of 10.3 percent since 2010. Affluent Bangladeshis seeking treatment abroad spend around $6 billion annually, a clear indication of gaps in local services and infrastructure.

“This is an incredibly promising time for Bangladesh,” said Sinha, linking healthcare investment to broader national economic goals. “As we aim to become the world’s 25th largest economy, investing in healthcare is not just a social imperative but a sound economic strategy.”

She identified three key areas for transformation: investment in pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, and digital health; expansion of health insurance coverage, which currently includes less than 1 percent of the population; and enhanced workforce development to manage the rising incidence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs).

With over 110 million internet users in the country, Sinha also underscored the potential for scaling digital health services such as telemedicine and remote patient monitoring.

Private healthcare providers now dominate service delivery in Bangladesh. The country has only 255 public hospitals compared to 5,054 private clinics and 9,529 private diagnostic centers. Despite this dominance, only 37 percent of patients rely on private hospitals for care, suggesting significant room for improvement in quality, affordability, and accessibility.

AM Shamim, founder and managing director of Labaid Group, argued that while public perception often paints local healthcare as inefficient or substandard, many domestic hospitals are equipped to provide high-quality treatment. He attributed continued patient outflows to the limited number of such high-quality facilities rather than an overall lack of capacity.

In the pharmaceutical sector, Bangladesh has made considerable progress. Syed Omor Kabir, general manager of Renata Pharmaceuticals PLC, reported that local manufacturers now meet 98 percent of domestic medicine demand and export generic drugs to more than 150 countries, including markets in the United States, Europe, and Australia.

Despite these achievements, healthcare remains underrepresented in investment portfolios. Martin Holtmann, country manager for the International Finance Corporation (IFC), observed that of the IFC’s $9 billion investment across more than 120 projects in Bangladesh, only $100 million has been directed toward healthcare.

“The market is significantly underdeveloped,” said Holtmann. Based on population dynamics and economic trends, the IFC estimates that the healthcare market has the potential to reach $40–50 billion annually. He highlighted secondary and tertiary care, diagnostics, non-communicable disease management, and dental services as key growth segments.

Holtmann also shared personal observations of receiving quality care in local facilities, reinforcing the argument that with the right investments, Bangladesh’s healthcare sector could compete internationally.