Health career opportunities in Dhaka

During my association with teaching, I used to meet people belonging to diverse professions. Recently, in new cohort, I asked some students about their qualification and professions to know them better in order to develop an interactive learning environment. I was surprised by hearing the answer of a few students who have done BCom and working as unit receptionists in different hospitals.
It is a very common perception that medical colleges usually train and produce either doctors, nurses or dentists. However, there are numerous other professions available, which are also trained in health care institutions.  True, in our society most people do not get any career planning help. Therefore, they do not know thoroughly about fields which have good job prospect.
In Dhaka, the health industry direly needs professionals who can work in allied health fields. It is an opportunity for those young people who are seeking for a career that have an excellent salary package, growth, and get the chance for doing something worthwhile. They should explore career and wide range of opportunities offered in the allied health professions. Here, in this article an attempt has been made to share the details about few allied health care professions.
Medical technology: This is also called clinical laboratory sciences. Medical technologists do not work directly with the patients, but they help doctors in diagnosing and treating them. Their role is to perform laboratory procedures and tests which enables pathologists to treat diseases. In the small laboratories, they have to perform several different tests, but in large labs they have specific duties based on their specialty. There are institutions of medical technology who are offering educational programmes leading to become medical technologists.  This is a BSc degree in medical technology or any other bioscience, with an additional certification course in medical technology from a hospital or a medical college. Computer and maths skills add additional value.
Cardiac Perfusion: It is the newest and most challenging profession in medical field. The perfusionists operate extracorporeal circulation equipment during surgeries. We also call it the heart lung machine which helps keep a patient blood pumping and artificially takes place of the patient's heart at the time of open heart surgery. These perfusionists are required for different surgeries like organ transplant, heart bypass. They are experts of other life support equipments and solely responsible for their condition. Required qualification to be a cardiac perfusionist is BSc degree in Cardiac Perfusion.  
Audiology: This is a rapidly developing field and the need for this service is on the rise. It is a science of hearing and balance. The staff work with patients of all ages. They assess and manage hearing and balance problems of patients of all ages using numerous testing tools. Their responsibility is to interpret test results and they often develop a plan of treatment with other healthcare professionals. They are experts in selection and fitting of hearing aids, they also help patients in the use of various assistive listening devices. Required qualification for this profession is BSC degree in Audiology or a Diploma in Audiology and Speech Pathology.   
Optometry: This is a science concerned with eye and vision. The specialists are trained to examine people's eyes to diagnose and treat vision problems such as nearsightedness and farsightedness. They prescribe eyeglasses, contact lenses, or any other treatment as per requirement. Required qualification is BSc in occupational therapy.   
These are the description of few areas; there are more areas in the allied field of health sciences such as occupational therapy, physiotherapy, orthotists and prosthetists, radiographers, dieticians and nutritionists, operation theatre (OT) technician, speech pathologist, dental technologists etc.
Detailed information and best explanations on more allied career choices can be found easily on internet. For individualised career guidance, sessions should be arranged by different educational institutions in different places.  The NGOs and government authorities can make people aware by different campaigns. It can help us in control unemployment rate of Dhaka and it rays opportunities and career prospects for future generations.

Email: farhanjumani@gmail.com