Citizens’ feedback on health service and the responses of health authorities of Bangladesh: An analysis of the Grievance Redress System

Abstract

Developing nations like Bangladesh face unique challenges in healthcare delivery system due to resource constraints, making it crucial to assess the responsiveness of healthcare authorities to citizen feedback. This study utilized data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’s (MOHFW) Grievance Redress System (GRS) in Bangladesh, collected from January 1st to August 8th, 2023. A total of 11,604 anonymous messages received from health service takers were retrieved and analyzed. Kaplan-Meier analysis, and log-rank tests were conducted to assess feedback response times. Feedback were mainly complaints (60.33%), followed by compliments (22.03%) and suggestions (14.48%). Complaints were primarily related to the health workforce, infrastructure, and service utilization. Responses included forwarding (67.02%) to the relevant department, closure (30.12%), resolution (2.55%), pending (0.05%), and overdue (0.25%). The median response time was 3.48 hours (IQR: 1.26 – 13.00). Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed that moderate and major complaints were significantly less likely to be resolved than minor complaints (p < 0.001). The status and responsiveness of the grievance redress process of the healthcare delivery system in Bangladesh highlighted in this study can be used to plan the enhancement of the redress system and, thereby, improve health service. © 2025 Khan et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.