TUHIN SHUBHRA ADHIKARY

Established in 2016, Rajshahi Medical University (RMU) has yet to develop the capacity to offer postgraduate courses -- the core function of a medical university.

Without a campus of its own, the activities of the university largely remain limited to regulating undergraduate education at its affiliated public and private medical colleges, and nursing colleges and institutes.

A Tk 1,867-crore project was approved in June 2022 to develop the university’s infrastructure and build a 1,200-bed hospital, but work has yet to begin.

When it comes to workforce, the university has a vice-chancellor, a treasurer and 80 other employees at various levels, but no pro-vice chancellors or deans who play vital roles in providing academic leadership.

Not only RMU but also three other medical universities in Chattogram, Sylhet and Khulna -- all established between 2016 and 2021 -- are grappling with major operational shortcomings, leaving Bangladesh Medical University (BMU) as the country’s lone fully functional medical university.

These universities were set up with the aim of improving medical education, promoting research, and producing skilled professionals to strengthen the healthcare system.

However, the four universities are still far from becoming full-fledged institutions due to bureaucratic tangles, delays in initiating and implementing projects, and hurdles in acquiring land. Their functions are now largely limited to conducting exams and paperwork for undergraduate students of affiliated medical institutions, officials said.

None of them has any pro-vice chancellors or deans, as these positions must be filled with their own faculty members, said a health ministry official, seeking anonymity.

Against this backdrop, Health Minister Sardar Md Sakhawat Husain, recently sat with the high-ups of the four universities and the BMU, and asked them to take steps to enhance academic capacity.

He also directed them to inform the ministry in writing At Around

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