TUHIN SHUBHRA ADHIKARY

The government is increasing hospital bed capacity without adequately addressing staffing gaps, raising questions of whether any meaningful improvements in patient care would come from the initiative.

Within three months of taking office, the current administration has also embarked on hospital expansion initiatives, as the previous two governments did, approving the addition of another 1,100 beds in public hospitals.

The expansion comes even though 9,407 doctor posts -- around 23 percent of the sanctioned physician positions in public hospitals -- remain vacant.

The challenge is set to grow further as the government has decided to upgrade all Upazila Health Complexes (UHCs) to 101-bed hospitals. More than 400 facilities with 50 beds or fewer will need to be upgraded.

The wholesale plan will require a substantial increase in the health workforce, but the country’s pipeline for recruiting doctors remains inadequate to meet the growing demand.

The government is currently processing four Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) examinations through which 4,113 doctors are expected to join government service. Besides, the Director General of Health Services (DGHS) proposed recruiting 5,000 more doctors.

However, that number is insufficient

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