Package plan for nursing
Friday, 25 December 2009
The government's recent move to upgrade the status of nurses, it is hoped, would have a positive impact on the quality of service as well as the general standing of the professionals concerned, vis-à-vis the medical establishment and the public at large. It needs no telling that though the nursing profession is often lauded as one of the noblest, a great deal of that amounts to only lip service in Bangladesh, good only for school essays. The profession has always been suffering from neglect and much under-valuation, so much so that, it is not unusual for nurses to find themselves being treated quite shabbily at their workplaces. This is not only because most of the nurses happen to come from less privileged sections, compared to those qualifying as doctors, but clearly because they are women and they belong to a society blighted by an entrenched apartheid of gender. This has to be dismantled, and the government's plan to upgrade the status of nurses to Class II is a step in the right direction.
The current doctor to nurse ratio is 2:1, while that of patient to nurse is worse. Given the fact that the health profile of Bangladesh's population is one of the worst in the world, the dearth of nurses ---- and doctors, of course ---- needs to be dealt with seriously. If reforms in the nursing sector are comprehensive enough, nurses could be educated and skilled enough not only to handle most of the health problems that Bangladesh's people face, but also to be in demand globally. More than 800 out of every thousand women here die in the act of giving birth ---- from causes that could be prevented with just a little pre- and post-natal care, which should be well within the capacities of properly trained and educated nurses.
Advocates of 'health for all' have always been stressing the need for skilled, down-to-earth, 'barefoot doctors' to advise and treat people suffering from the commonest diseases ----- diseases of malnutrition and poor personal hygiene and public sanitation. Countries like Bangladesh need brigades of reasonably educated and trained nurses and general health practitioners far more than 'elitist specialists', according to these health campaigners. Such a concept of reaching primary health care services to poor malnourished people certainly has its merits, and deserves to be worked on.
Poor health, beginning in the womb, is perpetuated by the vicious circle of poverty and malnutrition, and in such a situation of deprivation, girls and women are worse off than the male members in a family. Countless surveys in South Asian countries, including Bangladesh, have established beyond doubt that it is the second class status of females that is the cause of high child mortality and maternal deaths. And it is this same status that has been keeping nurses unrecognised in Bangladesh, even though one finds Florence Nightingale being adulated for raising the profession sky high. The Anglican nun, in the mid 19th century, proved to the world what proper nursing care could do to the wounded soldiers of the 1854 Crimean War. She and her team of 38 volunteers could bring down the death rate from 42 per cent to just about two per cent then, opening the eyes of the world to the invaluable contribution of good nursing.
The government must therefore be commended for its plans to enhance the nursing profession. It means to recruit of over 2600 nurses into government service; increase seats in 38 nursing institutes ( from 1135 to 1490); upgrade four of the existing nursing institutes into colleges to offer BSc Degree in Nursing; and institute one such college in each divisional headquarters. All these initiatives could go a long way in enhancing the prestige of nurses in a country that had never honoured them as they deserved. One would only hope the government would be able to ensure that recruitment and enhancement would be above the influence of partisan politics.
The current doctor to nurse ratio is 2:1, while that of patient to nurse is worse. Given the fact that the health profile of Bangladesh's population is one of the worst in the world, the dearth of nurses ---- and doctors, of course ---- needs to be dealt with seriously. If reforms in the nursing sector are comprehensive enough, nurses could be educated and skilled enough not only to handle most of the health problems that Bangladesh's people face, but also to be in demand globally. More than 800 out of every thousand women here die in the act of giving birth ---- from causes that could be prevented with just a little pre- and post-natal care, which should be well within the capacities of properly trained and educated nurses.
Advocates of 'health for all' have always been stressing the need for skilled, down-to-earth, 'barefoot doctors' to advise and treat people suffering from the commonest diseases ----- diseases of malnutrition and poor personal hygiene and public sanitation. Countries like Bangladesh need brigades of reasonably educated and trained nurses and general health practitioners far more than 'elitist specialists', according to these health campaigners. Such a concept of reaching primary health care services to poor malnourished people certainly has its merits, and deserves to be worked on.
Poor health, beginning in the womb, is perpetuated by the vicious circle of poverty and malnutrition, and in such a situation of deprivation, girls and women are worse off than the male members in a family. Countless surveys in South Asian countries, including Bangladesh, have established beyond doubt that it is the second class status of females that is the cause of high child mortality and maternal deaths. And it is this same status that has been keeping nurses unrecognised in Bangladesh, even though one finds Florence Nightingale being adulated for raising the profession sky high. The Anglican nun, in the mid 19th century, proved to the world what proper nursing care could do to the wounded soldiers of the 1854 Crimean War. She and her team of 38 volunteers could bring down the death rate from 42 per cent to just about two per cent then, opening the eyes of the world to the invaluable contribution of good nursing.
The government must therefore be commended for its plans to enhance the nursing profession. It means to recruit of over 2600 nurses into government service; increase seats in 38 nursing institutes ( from 1135 to 1490); upgrade four of the existing nursing institutes into colleges to offer BSc Degree in Nursing; and institute one such college in each divisional headquarters. All these initiatives could go a long way in enhancing the prestige of nurses in a country that had never honoured them as they deserved. One would only hope the government would be able to ensure that recruitment and enhancement would be above the influence of partisan politics.