While addressing the opening ceremony of the golden jubilee celebration and 14th convocation 2022 of Bangladesh College of Physicians and Surgeons (BCPS) as chief guest Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday called upon the country's physicians to stand beside people with a vow to provide services. The premier rightly said that when a doctor listens to a patient with patience, it gives the patient confidence and helps in healing.
Improving the quality of medical care in Bangladesh has been a high priority over the last decades and a large share of the health budget in Bangladesh goes to the doctors’ pocket working with the public hospitals and clinics. As salaries are used inefficiently because of poor motivation and performance of doctors, a large chunk of public money gets wasted. Hence, evaluating the performance of doctors is crucial for reinforcing the country’s health system. One major source of inefficient use of salaries is conspicuous absence of doctors and nurses. It is very unfortunate for us as a nation that our government spends millions from its budget to make doctors and equip them with adequate training but these doctors neglect their duties.
Physicians appointed at public hospitals and health
centres have long been involved in private practices, ignoring their
duties at their respective workplaces
Though the government has taken many initiatives to modernise the country’s healthcare system with modern and hi-tech facilities, people are not getting the required healthcare services from many centres. The government has taken certain steps to ensure health facilities at grassroots, but the tendency of doing private practice by government doctors is making the task difficult.
In Bangladesh, scarcity of doctors is a very common phenomenon particularly in rural areas where they are most needed. According to the Manpower Strategy for SDGs, 4.45 physicians, nurses and midwives are required to provide healthcare to 1000 people. But we currently have one registered physician per 1,847 people. What is more disconcerting is that physicians appointed at public hospitals and health centres have long been involved in private practices, ignoring their duties at their respective workplaces. As a result, people especially the poor have been the victim of such unlawful and unethical practices over the past many years. In order to put an end to such unethical practices, constant vigilance from the part of the authorities concerned is a must.
