Editorial
14 days ago

Poor state of new public hospitals

An inside view of the National Orthopedic Hospital and Rehabilitation Institute (NITOR), widely known as Pangu Hospital — Photo via UNB
An inside view of the National Orthopedic Hospital and Rehabilitation Institute (NITOR), widely known as Pangu Hospital — Photo via UNB

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Unlike other branches of science, medicine is biomedical specialisation in human health and healing. So, the educational institutions where medicine is taught cannot bear any lapse in terms of educational facilities and physical infrastructure. But, generally, all the public sector medical colleges of Bangladesh numbering 37 are riddled with all forms of inadequacies and shortages. Among those, the worse off, especially are the ones that have been established after 2010 during the immediate past authoritarian regime. Some among them do not have the required space to house classrooms, teachers' office, laboratory, their own hospital to conduct clinical classes, let alone the colleges' own academic building, students' dormitory and so on. These are about the lack of the material requirements for teaching. But when it comes to the issue of teaching staff, the most vital component to run an institution of learning, these medical colleges are in acute shortage of that. 

Consider, for instance, the Chandpur Medical College, which, for want of an academic building of its own, is reportedly, situated on the third floor of the government-owned 250-bed Chandpur general hospital. Comprising 11 rooms, the 3,500 square feet space is all that the medical college possesses to teach 250 students.  According to the principal of that medical college, a gynaecologist by specialisation, the institution has no professor of anatomy, nor an associate or full professor for physiology. To add to the problems, there is no post for forensic medicine. Although the college has posts for assistant, associate professor and professor of pharmacology, there are no teachers to fill those posts. Similarly, the departments of biochemistry, pathology, medicine, general surgery, you name them, they fare no better.    Established seven years ago in 2018 under political considerations, a batch of students has already passed as doctors with their MBBS degrees from that medical college and have been doing internship there.

But without any hospital facilities of its own and inadequate training resources, what those trainee doctors are supposedly leaning to serve their patients, in their professional lives? It simply sends shivers down one's spine to think of such a prospect. But the picture is no different in most other public medical colleges, not to speak of some 67 privately-run ones. However, the privately-run medical colleges have at least to comply with the conditions set by the government such as having its own academic building on its own land, the required space, having the required number of teachers in right proportion to the number of students to be taught, a laboratory, and so on.  But the government-owned ones have no obligation to fulfil such conditions, for who is going to challenge them? So, rather than meeting the basic requirements of these medical colleges, the authorities concerned are learnt to have gone on increasing the number of seats to enrol more students thereby worsening the crises further.  It is a disgrace for medical profession and should stop.

The health adviser of the incumbent interim government did reportedly admit to the media recently that 50 per cent of the public hospitals were not running the way they should and as such, she added, there was no point keeping those functional any more. No doubt, the health adviser could correctly appreciate the issues dogging the public hospitals. But what is expected of her is to take urgent steps to meet the basic requirements of as many of these medical colleges as possible and close down the rest. It is better not to have doctors at all than creating poorly trained and ill-equipped ones whose service may prove to be problematic for its recipients.

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