The government has launched an initiative named Hello Doctor to ensure doctors’ attendance in the state-run hospitals and other healthcare facilities around the country.
Sources at the Ministry of Health and Family Affairs said with this initiative, the government aims to end the trend of negligence of duty among a large number of doctors, especially in remote areas.
The initiative will also look into taking punitive measures against doctors who take unauthorised leaves, they said.
The ministry recently formed a 66-member committee, headed by an additional secretary, to run the initiative. A circular in this regard was sent to all hospitals and upazila health complexes last week as well.
According to the circular, all the doctors and healthcare officials must report to duty on time , stay in office until the end of their duty and provide good service. Directors, supervisors, civil surgeons, upazila health officials and family welfare officials all come under the initiative as well.
The supervising officials in the state-run hospitals and health complexes have been assigned to monitor the attendance of healthcare staff.
In addition, all hospitals and health complexes have been instructed to install biometric machines to keep electronic record of attendance, as well as ensure good maintenance of the machines.
Officials have also been assigned to make sudden calls to the supervising officials in the healthcare facilities at least twice a month to inquire about the doctors’ attendance.
The supervising officials may also have to send attendance records to the committee if required.
In case of any doctor’s absence in duty stations, the supervisors have to mention information about the duration of absence, reasons behind the absence and actions taken against unauthorised leaves.
However, former Bangladesh Medical Association president Professor Rashid-e-Mahbub said digitisation alone would not be able to plug loopholes to ensure proper attendance, and the government should first identify the reasons behind doctors’ absence in the hospitals, which has been a common practice for years.
“The new initiative may work to change doctors mentality as they will be monitored, but I am not sure whether the government can ensure their attendance with this initiative only. To ensure their presence at work, the government should reform the healthcare model through joint initiatives with medical professionals and organisations,” he said.
An acute and persisting problem
In meeting its commitment to ensure healthcare services to all, as mentioned in National Health Policy 2011, the government found doctors’ absence in hospitals to be a critical challenge.
The majority of healthcare seekers at state-run hospitals and health complexes are poor and ultra poor people, who are a major part of the country’s population and live mostly in the rural areas.
The incumbent government has appointed around 10,000 doctors during its tenure. These new doctors were appointed with the condition that they would be stationed in remote and rural areas for the first two years of service.
However, it is widely alleged that many of them are frequently absent in duty, and among those who are present at their stations, most do not maintain schedule and remain busy with their personal practices, which makes healthcare services even more inaccessible to people in those areas.
The situation is similar in the capital. This correspondent visited National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in the capital yesterday, where Fazlul Haque, an accident patient, complained that the doctors did not make their rounds regularly and patients had to rely on nurses for treatment.
It was also found many doctors at the hospital had yet to return to work from Eid vacation, which officially ended last week.
Requesting anonymity, officials at Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital said it falls on the interns to make up for the lack of service that is the responsibility of the absent doctors.
Still, the situation seems a little better in the capital, whereas the crisis remains acute in the rest of the country, ministry officials said.