One medical college in each district

If a medical college along with a hospital can be established in each district, it will be a great service done to the nation

Indeed if a medical college can be set up in each district of the country as the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said recently in the capital that it was her government’s plan to do so, the public health service will certainly get a big boost. The existing government health service facilities in the country are far shorter than the actual demand. In absence of better health centres in the towns, poor patients now have to go a long distance where they can take specialised treatment.
A patient of Thukargaon/Panchgarh or Nilphamari district, for example, has to come to Dinajpur/Rangpur Medical College Hospital for addressing a critical lung or kidney problem. For a poor patient this involves cost which he or she may not be able to afford. Moreover, for a critical patient time factor is also important. So if in each district a medical college along with a hospital can be established, this will be a great service done to the nation.
However, the prime minister in her speech at the 43rd annual conference of Bangladesh Ophthalmological Society at Krishibid Institution yesterday did not mention paucity of financial resources in setting up of hospital in each district, though fund management would be a substantial problem.  Rather she said that getting adequate faculty members for the medical colleges would be the real challenge as most physicians want to be in the capital or in an urban set-up.
This is more true about those physicians who are outside the teaching profession; but teaching career in a public medical college is always held in high esteem by the medical students because a tag of professor/associate professor/assistant professor before their names adds great value socially as well as financially when they give service to a patient in their private capacity.
The point is if the country can produce specialised physicians in adequate numbers we think getting their service in a college or hospital would not be a very difficult task. But one has to compromise with quality here: the medical skill of two doctors, both as a teacher and as a practitioner, is not same and as competition will play a key role as to who would serve in a district hospital or a hospital located in a division or the capital, the meritorious ones would certainly be able to make their choice in this particular case also as they do everywhere.
As decentralisation should be a key principle of the country’s development agenda, setting up a medical college hospital in each district would also serve this important purpose. Now the government needs to go ahead with this plan vigorously.     

One medical college in each district

If a medical college along with a hospital can be established in each district, it will be a great service done to the nation

Indeed if a medical college can be set up in each district of the country as the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said recently in the capital that it was her governments plan to do so, the public health service will certainly get a big boost. The existing government health service facilities in the country are far shorter than the actual demand. In absence of better health centres in the towns, poor patients now have to go a long distance where they can take specialised treatment. A patient of Thukargaon/Panchgarh or Nilphamari district, for example, has to come to Dinajpur/Rangpur Medical College Hospital for addressing a critical lung or kidney problem. For a poor patient this involves cost which he or she may not be able to afford. Moreover, for a critical patient time factor is also important. So if in each district a medical college along with a hospital can be established, this will be a great service done to the nation. However, the prime minister in her speech at the 43rd annual conference of Bangladesh Ophthalmological Society at Krishibid Institution yesterday did not mention paucity of financial resources in setting up of hospital in each district, though fund management would be a substantial problem. Rather she said that getting adequate faculty members for the medical colleges would be the real challenge as most physicians want to be in the capital or in an urban set-up. This is more true about those physicians who are outside the teaching profession; but teaching career in a public medical college is always held in high esteem by the medical students because a tag of professor/associate professor/assistant professor before their names adds great value socially as well as financially when they give service to a patient in their private capacity. The point is if the country can produce specialised physicians in adequate numbers we think getting their service in a college or hospital would not be a very difficult task. But one has to compromise with quality here: the medical skill of two doctors, both as a teacher and as a practitioner, is not same and as competition will play a key role as to who would serve in a district hospital or a hospital located in a division or the capital, the meritorious ones would certainly be able to make their choice in this particular case also as they do everywhere. As decentralisation should be a key principle of the countrys development agenda, setting up a medical college hospital in each district would also serve this important purpose. Now the government needs to go ahead with this plan vigorously.