Medical colleges need more seats

The current doctor-patient ratio in Bangladesh is miserable. According to a study, there are only five active physicians per 10,000 people with adequate medical qualifications. This ratio has reportedly placed the country at the second position from the bottom among the South Asian countries. This is also much below the World Health Organization's recommendation of 44.5 doctors, nurses and midwives per 10,000 population.

For a sustainable healthcare system, we must have enough physicians to serve all our people. And a large number of science-background students also want to study medicine in medical colleges. But we do not have sufficient seats for students in public medical colleges. And the cost for studying in private medical colleges is exorbitant for many of us. In this situation, the authorities concerned should revamp the admission process and increase the number of seats in government medical colleges by as much number as possible. This is crucial to plugging the gaps in the healthcare system.

Abu Elias Linkon,

Banasree, Dhaka,

lightening_sparkle@yahoo.com