Bangladesh has made great strides in improving the health of its population, much more than a country at its level of development can be expected to do. Serious problems still remain in reducing child malnutrition and maternal mortality in particular; nonetheless, the aggregative results achieved in the last three decades are quite impressive. These achievements have certainly have gone a long way towards fulfilling the right to health in Bangladesh. This paper argues, however, that despite overall progress the health sector of Bangladesh suffers from a number of inadequacies that militate against the rights-based approach to health. These include persistent inequities in access to healthcare (including gender inequity, and inequity along the poor versus non-poor divide), lack of meaningful participation of citizens in the running of the health system, and the absence of effective accountability mechanisms through which the providers of healthcare can be held responsible for their actions.