Both barefoot and specialist doctors are needed
Sunday, 7 February 2010
While a country like China devised practical ways to deliver healthcare to rural populations by deploying its band of 'barefoot doctors' from the 1960s in a transitional phase, and then went on to expand full-fledged medical education facilities that enabled national coverage to a great degree, chronic shortages of doctors in rural Bangladesh almost four decades after Independence remain a worry.
The proposal to introduce an undergraduate study of a shorter duration to produce doctors for rural areas is not considered desirable. Some ask, should rural folk be short-changed when it comes to the education, training, and calibre of medical practitioners?
It will compromise the quality of education and training. Is there anything rural or urban about human anatomy and diseases? They say that the government should instead concentrate on improving the infrastructure in primary health care institutions, and curb rampant absenteeism which is the major culprit in the health care delivery system in rural areas.
Bangladesh is a rapidly progressing country and its doctors and engineers are respected across the world. Introducing a three-and-a-half year course to produce alternative cadres of doctors at this juncture would not be a retrograde move.
It is not that we are suggesting that rural folk do not need specialised care. Specialised hospitals may be built in rural areas also. The government can think of having a separate quota for rural doctors, who can be absorbed after completing housemanship to work in rural hospitals only. Only those who agree should be allowed to apply under this quota.
Avik Sengupta
Biochemistry, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
(avik.sengupta@mail.mcgill.c)
The proposal to introduce an undergraduate study of a shorter duration to produce doctors for rural areas is not considered desirable. Some ask, should rural folk be short-changed when it comes to the education, training, and calibre of medical practitioners?
It will compromise the quality of education and training. Is there anything rural or urban about human anatomy and diseases? They say that the government should instead concentrate on improving the infrastructure in primary health care institutions, and curb rampant absenteeism which is the major culprit in the health care delivery system in rural areas.
Bangladesh is a rapidly progressing country and its doctors and engineers are respected across the world. Introducing a three-and-a-half year course to produce alternative cadres of doctors at this juncture would not be a retrograde move.
It is not that we are suggesting that rural folk do not need specialised care. Specialised hospitals may be built in rural areas also. The government can think of having a separate quota for rural doctors, who can be absorbed after completing housemanship to work in rural hospitals only. Only those who agree should be allowed to apply under this quota.
Avik Sengupta
Biochemistry, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
(avik.sengupta@mail.mcgill.c)