STAFF CORRESPONDENT

Bangladesh’s health sector is grappling with a severe shortage of health workers, particularly nurses and allied professionals, alongside stark urban-rural disparities in workforce distribution, threatening equitable access to healthcare, according to a government-funded study.

The country has only 12.78 doctors, nurses and midwives per 10,000 people, compared with the World Health Organisation-recommended 44.5 doctors, said the study conducted by the University of Dhaka’s Department of Population Sciences over the past year with funding from the National Institute of Population Research and Training (NIPORT).

The researchers interviewed 1,756 health professionals -- including doctors, nurse, medical technologists and pharmacists -- and analysed the government’s recent health workforce data, including the HRH Data Sheet 2023.

While the number of doctors meets the WHO benchmark, the country continues to face an acute shortage of nurses and midwives, leaving the doctor-nurse-midwife ratio at 1:0.75:0.74 -- far below the recommended 1:3:5.

It highlighted severe urban-rural maldistribution, with almost 75 percent of doctors and nurses serving in urban areas, though 62 percent of the population lives in rural areas.

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