‘Health Policy Dialogue’ a health sector think tank holds discussion on inequitable distribution of medical doctors

Dhaka, July 20, 2019: Today, the Health Policy Dialogue (HPD) - a think tank initiative in the health sector of Bangladesh holds its 4th policy dialogue with health professionals, policy makers, practitioners and representatives from government, nongovernment organisations (NGOs) and media at the CIRDAP Auditorium, Dhaka. The HPD was initiated in September 2017 by icddr,b’s ‘Strengthening Health, Applying Research Evidence (SHARE)’ project.

Bangladesh is considered as one of the countries with severe shortage and geographically improper distribution of health workforce . The country is challenged by production, deployment, availability and retention of quality health workforce. Against this backdrop, the discussion titled ‘Equitable Distribution of Medical Doctors for Strengthening Universal Health Coverage (UHC)’ sought practical solutions to overcome the challenges and achieve UHC in Bangladesh. Which in turn will be shared with policy makers to enable them formulate evidenced-based policy.   

Dr. Mushtuq Husain from Co-ordination and Support Centre, Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), Government of Bangladesh welcomed the participants, while Professor Robayet Ferdous, Department of Mass Communication and Journalism, University of Dhaka, moderated the event.

In the keynote presentation, Dr. Iqbal Anwar, Scientist and Project Coordinator, SHARE Project, Universal Health Coverage Programme at icddr,b highlighted the present situation of health workforce distribution in Bangladesh. He has presented several setbacks of the existing system include overly-centralised health system, weak governance and regulatory framework, weak management and institutional capacity in the MoHFW, inequitable allocation of doctors, high rate of vacancy at the Upazilla level, high number of deputation posting, inadequate amenities and lack of proper educational facilities for children of the health professionals posted in the rural areas etc.

Dr Anwar has also presented relevant data from DGHS 2019, which shows that 20.4% vacancy against sanctioned positions of doctors that aggravates the situation of shortage of medical doctors. Furthermore, a total of 4,749 doctors are posted as attachment (OSD) in Dhaka against the sanctioned OSD post of 783. These have resulted a severe shortage of doctors in district level and below.

Discussants at the event, stressed on the importance of immediate coordinated efforts among multiple stakeholders in order to eliminate the existing setbacks and strengthen the present health system.

The Chief Guest of the dialogue Dr. Prof. Abul Kalam Azad, Director General, DGHS also stressed on the coordinated approach, he said, “We have made some significant progresses, we now have data to identify gaps in the distribution of health workforce. However, we need better coordination among stakeholders, and united approach to address the shortcomings in this sector. 

In the closing remark, the Chairperson of the discussion session Dr. M. A. Faiz, Professor of Medicine, Member of Health Policy Dialogue and Ex- Director General of DGHS, MoHFW thanked the participants for their valuable comments. He said, “The health policy dialogue has captured the recommendations discussed and will share with relevant authorities and policy makers to bring a positive change in the existing health system of the country”.

Earlier, the HPD organised three policy dialogues on themes covering ‘Achievements in the health sector and people’s expectations’, ‘Engaging Private Sector to Achieve Universal Health Coverage in Bangladesh’ and ‘Urban health and universal health coverage’. These have generated significant policy and practice recommendations.

Strengthening Health, Applying Research Evidence (SHARE) project is supported by the European Union (EU). Along with EU, the event was supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).