|
Grameen Kalyan is an embodiment of the vision of Professor Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel Laureate in peace. It is a Grameen peer organization set up in 1996 as a not-for-profit company. Its primary goal is to provide a series of improvement and cost effective welfare and healthcare services to Grameen Bank (GB) members, employees & other villagers living in the terrirtory and also support other Grameen peer companies dedicated to poverty alleviation.
In order to afford the poor an opportunity to engage in income generating activities in good health effectively utilizing extended micro-credit, Grameen Bank initiated an action reseearc project to develop a rural health program (RHP) in 1993. After three years of research it was handed over to Grameen Kalyan in 1996 to create a momentum in Micro Health Insurance Program in Bangladesh.
Since it's inception in 1996 as an non-profit entity, GK has been expanding its health services in rural Bangladesh, which include an affordable micro-health insurance scheme, a network of community- based health centers and satellite clinics, a functional system of referrals for secondary and tertiary health care, and outreach health services by community- based female health workers. The focus of these health services is to eliminate equality in health services in rural Bangladesh and improve health services for the poor. Under a bottom-up approach, GK is gradually expanding into a coutrywide health program for the rural population of Bangladesh. Presently GK covers 12 districts, 32 upazilla (sub districts) by establishing 38 health centers, which supervised by 6 regions. This is the vertical expansion to spread the facility among large number of community. The horizontal expansion is to make the health center strengthen by bringing the state of the art health care services and provide various major and minor health procedures. Every health center of GK uses modern equipments to ensure accuracy and quality health service like Microscope in cataract surgery. Ultrasonogram machine in case of safe motherhood program and Electrocardiogram for cardiac patient. It shows the commitment of GK to extend modern technology at the un-reached rural people. In 2007, the health program of GK treated 3,21,762 patients and provided free domiciliary services to 2.5 million villagers. The operational cost recovery rate has reached from 38% in 1997 to 93% in 2007. |
|
