& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Straightening out Medical Education

Law on cards

Says health minister

Staff Correspondent
Depicting a precarious situation of governance in the medical education sector, Health Minister Mohammad Nasim yesterday said all these happened because of the country's "political culture".
"The garment factory owners and businessmen are establishing private universities, medical colleges. They own television channels....! haven't seen so 'innovative' people anywhere else," he quipped ata discussion in the capital.
The minister said he found medical colleges without teachers, and one teacher working for four institutions.
"In the last three months, there has been much pressure on me for relaxing the admission rules [in medical colleges]," Nasim said. "All these happened because of our political culture."
Speaking at the discussion, "Bangladesh: Quality Challenges in Medical Education", in the LGED auditorium, he said his ministry was framing a stringent law to ensure quality medical education and strengthen Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council (BMDC), the regulating body for medical professionals.
"I will not compromise on the question of quality. The colleges which are not performing up to the mark would be shut down," he said.
The ministry also initiated making laws to protect both doctors and patients, he said, referring to incidents of assault on doctors by patient's relatives in the case of wrong treatment.
The Directorate of Medical Education and Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC) organised the discussion.
Prof Mahmud Hasan, president of Bangladesh Medical Association (BMA), said creating a doctor was a very complicated process that required knowledge, skills and attitudes.
In developed countries, medical teachers concentrate only on teaching and research, whereas in Bangladesh doctors are basically the "bi-products of the healthcare services", he said, adding that they had to teach and deliver services at the same time.
"Doctors, if not properly trained, can cause great damage to people," Hasan said, recommending assessment of students in terms of both merit and attitudes during admission to medical colleges.
Stating that 60 percent of medical students now study in private colleges, spending huge money, he said he wondered if they would ever work for the people in rural areas.
The county now has 54 private and 23 public medical colleges, offering around 8,000 seats.
Prof ASM Ahmed Amin, president of BMDC, recommended that a single accreditation body be set up to oversee medical education.
Dr Rashid-E-Mahbub, president of Bangladesh Health Rights Movement, called for increasing investment in medical education, and making it mandatory for fresh graduates to do internship for two years in upazila and district level hospitals.
BSMMH Vice Chancellor Prof Pran Gopal Datta, Dhaka University Medicine Faculty Dean Prof Ismail Khan, and World Health Organization's former regional adviser Prof M Muzaherul Huq spoke, while PPRC Executive Chairman Hossain Zillur Rahman moderated the programme.