Private hospitals that import medical machinery and equipment at zero duty will have to set aside 5 percent of their seats to provide free treatment to the poor from next month.

The hospitals will also have to provide other related services for enjoying the duty benefit, after the National Board of Revenue added the clause to the provision, in existence since 2005, in the budget for fiscal 2015-16.

The provision, which was introduced a decade ago with a view to developing the country's healthcare infrastructure, allows referral hospitals duty-free import of 229 medical instruments.

Referral hospitals are ones to which patients are directed from primary and secondary health care levels for complex and specialised treatments.

However, the duty waiver has not helped the poor get treatment for free or at low-cost at the 24 private hospitals that have so far enjoyed the benefit, revenue officials said.

The hospitals include Birdem, National Heart Foundation, Apollo, Square, United, Labaid and Green Life.

“We have now attached a condition so that people from the low-income segment can get better treatment,” said Syed Mushfequr Rahman, first secretary of customs policy at the NBR.

Maniruzzaman Bhuiyan, president of Bangladesh Private Clinic Diagnostic Owners Association, welcomed the move, terming it a “good initiative”.

Rashid-e-Mahbub, chairman of the National Committee on Health Rights Movement, is doubtful about the efficacy of the move, while calling for a monitoring mechanism to ensure the hospitals comply with the condition.

“Who will monitor it? Will it be a gentleman agreement or properly be reflected?”

He suggested the responsibility of monitoring be given to either the Directorate General of Health Services or the social welfare ministry. In case of noncompliance, the duty benefits should be revoked and the revenue amount waived be realised.

He also said the government should specify what services come under the free treatment bracket.

Mahbub, who is also the joint secretary general of Birdem, said 30 percent of the berths at the hospital are earmarked for the poor for free treatment.

At present, there are more than 8,000 registered private hospitals, clinics and diagnostic centres in the country, according to the Bangladesh Economic Review 2014, a publication of the finance ministry.