Most pvt medical colleges not following govt rules

Shamsul Huda | Published: February 16, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00

The standard of education at private medical colleges has come into question, as most of the institutions are not following the government rules properly.
As per the related rule of the government, every college must have a 250-bed general hospital. But in reality it is not happening.
According to sources, most of the 54 private medical colleges in the country do not have the 250-bed general hospitals. Even they do not have the adequate number of teachers and lab facilities.
Every year more than 5,000 students are enrolled by the private medical colleges, according to sources.
A doctor at a hospital alleged that some of the colleges were even enrolling students not based on merit.
Mr Ayubur Rahman Khan, additional secretary at the ministry of health and family welfare said the government had given approval to the private medical colleges based on some criteria and certain conditions.
Every private medical college must follow the government directives on quality education and necessary infrastructure and any college violating the rules would face penalty, he added.
According to different sources, currently most of the colleges except few do not have the required number of teachers, necessary infrastructure and laboratories. The standard of teaching is also very poor.
They claimed the colleges were simply making money by enrolling students and every student was paying a big amount of money but not getting quality education.
Professor ABM Abdullah, dean of the faculty of medicine at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), said the health sector would come under a threat in the long run.
He said the number of qualified teachers was declining and the MBBS students were not getting proper education. The situation was just worse in the private medical colleges lacking full-time teachers subject-wise.
For different subjects a medial college needs a good number of teachers. But majority of the colleges were hiring teachers on a part-time basis, he said.
A doctor working at a public hospital said: "I am totally frustrated that some of my teachers are principals at such medical colleges where he has to resort to malpractice in issuing certificates to the students."
He said: "I had to face a tough viva on my FCPS course. But now I feel sorry they are resorting to malpractice at the private colleges."
Many renowned teachers became principals of private medical colleges and under the pressure of college owners they were doing some jobs which could never be expected, he said.
A source at the health ministry said apart from the existing 54 medical colleges the previous government had given permission to 12 more to be set up by different entrepreneurs.
But those colleges were yet to get going, as they could not build the required infrastructure and go by the related rules.
The source said one medical college was yet to get affiliation from the university concerned and resultantly it was yet to start its operation.
A doctor doing his master's under the BSMMU said every year a good number of doctors would pass out of the colleges and the quality of education that they were getting might leave the health sector in trouble.
He said though as per the related rule every college must have a 250-bed hospital, in fact most of them were not following it.
He said some had even arranged beds just to obtain permission of the authority, but in fact they had no patients. As a result, the students' exposure to patients was nil.
He also said the public medical colleges were witnessing a rush of patients and resultantly the students there were gathering experience by treating those patients.
Shah Md. Selim, secretary general of Bangladesh Private Medical College Association, said maximum 30 private medical colleges were maintaining quality by having their own 250-bed hospital, laboratory, equipment and other facilities to ensure quality education.
He said many were having 250 beds at their respective hospitals, but the occupancy rate was poor.
He said the occupancy of a hospital at every medical college must be kept at minimum 50 per cent, but it was not happening.
Mr. Abdullah at the BSMMU said the government was giving permission to private medical colleges, but the authority concerned was not doing proper supervision to maintain quality of education and other standards.