Six more get govt’s nod while many limp
The government has approved six more private medical colleges, including three homeopathic and one dental, while many are running without ensuring standard of education.
Before approval of the medical colleges, the government should scrutinise the teachers at the institutes, said Prof Pran Gopal Datta, vice-chancellor of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU).
Questioning the abilities of teachers in private medical colleges, he said this is a profession which can decide the life or death of a person.
Some private medical colleges are running with insufficient number of teachers, lab facilities, libraries and own campus, which are mandatory to establish medical colleges, said sources of the health and family welfare ministry.
In 2005-06, the medical education wing of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) identified some 10 such private medical colleges and postponed their intake of students. But, some of the private medical colleges are admitting students after getting the High Court’s orders filing writ petitions.
The government has also allowed 80 more seats at six private medical colleges, said a high official of the health and family welfare ministry.
Considering the demand of medical education, decrease of doctor to patient ratio and minimum standard of medical studies, the government has taken the decision of establishing more private medical institutions, said health and family welfare minister AFM Ruhal Haque.
There are 3,350 seats at 43 private medical colleges and 2,366 in public medical colleges in Bangladesh. According to the number of candidates at this year’s combined MBBS admission test, more than 42,000 students competed for 5,712 seats at both public and private medical colleges.
The ratio of doctor to patient now stands at 1:3,169, which indicates the poor state of doctor and patient ratio, said Md Maniruzzaman Bhuiyan, principal of Holy Family Red Crescent Medical College.
The newly approved medical colleges are—Popular Medical College and Hospital at Dhanmondi, MH Samorita Medical College at Panthapath, Patuakhali Homeopathic Medical College, Barguna Homeopathic Medical College and Rahanpur Homeopathic at Chapainawabganj and Mendi Dental College at Dhanmondi.
Meanwhile, another private medical college and 39 medical assistant training schools and 13 institutes of health technologists are under consideration of the health and family welfare ministry, sources at the health ministry said after attending a meeting on ‘approval of private medical, dental, homeopathic medical college and IHT/MATS’ chaired by the health minister recently.
Director of Medical Education, Prof Khandaker M Shefayet Ullah said, “We have brought some major changes in the set-up criteria for private medical college to improve the standard of medical education.”
Most of the private medical colleges earlier were established without functioning hospitals, which is mandatory for at least two years to get permission to establish a private medical college.
According to the medical education policy approved in 2004, the teachers and employees of the colleges have to be authenticated by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
As per the rule, no private medical college can be established in a rented facility. A 50-seat medical college must have its own building on 2.5 acres of land or one lakh square feet of space in metropolitan areas while five acres outside the metropolis.
