SHARE Bangladesh - ‘Health Policy Dialogue’ a health sector think tank held discussion on inequitable distribution of medical doctors

The Health Policy Dialogue (HPD) - a think tank initiative in the health sector of Bangladesh held its 4^th policy dialogue with health professionals, policy makers, practitioners and representatives from government, nongovernment organisations (NGOs) and media at the CIRDAP Auditorium, Dhaka on July 20, 2019. The discussion titled ‘Equitable Distribution of Medical Doctors for Strengthening Universal Health Coverage (UHC)’ sought practical solutions to overcome the challenges and achieve UHC in Bangladesh. Which in turn will be shared with policy makers to enable them formulate evidenced-based policy.

Dr. Iqbal Anwar, Scientist and Project Director, SHARE Project, Universal Health Coverage Programme at icddr,b highlighted the situation of health workforce distribution in Bangladesh in his keynote presentation. He has presented several setbacks of the existing system including overly-centralised health system, weak governance and regulatory framework, weak management and institutional capacity in the MoHFW, inequitable allocation of doctors, high rate of vacancy at the Upazilla level, high number of deputation posting, inadequate amenities and lack of proper educational facilities for children of the health professionals posted in the rural areas etc.

The Chief Guest of the dialogue Dr. Prof. Abul Kalam Azad, Director General, Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) also stressed on the coordinated approach, he said, “We have made some significant progresses, we now have data to identify gaps in the distribution of health workforce. However, we need better coordination among stakeholders, and united approach to address the shortcomings in this sector”. The Chairperson of the discussion session was Dr. M. A. Faiz, Professor of Medicine, Member of Health Policy Dialogue and Ex- Director General of DGHS, MoHFW. Strengthening Health, Applying Research Evidence (SHARE) project is supported by the European Union (EU). Along with EU, the event was supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).