Bangladeshis are now turning to China for cost-effective medical treatment, in the wake of India scaling back the issuance of medical visas since the ouster of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in August 2024.
Chinese ambassador Yao Wen said that a group of Bangladeshis this month visited the southwestern province of Yunnan for treatment to explore the potential of the medical tourism market
Meanwhile, Muhammad Yunus, Chief Advisor of Bangladesh’s Interim Government, is scheduled to visit China this month to meet President Xi Jinping.
Earlier, Bangladeshis preferred India for its cost-effective private healthcare and Bengali-speaking hospital staff.
However, India is reported to have slashed the issuance of medical visas to Bangladeshi citizens.
Daily online visa slots across five Indian visa centres in Bangladesh, including Dhaka, have plummeted to around 500 from over 7,000 daily.
In 2023, India issued more than two million visas to Bangladeshis, most of them on medical grounds, government data from both countries shows.
