With inadequate numbers of applicants vying for the freedom fighters quota each year, the Public Service Commission has reportedly decided to allow the health ministry to fill up the extra quota seats, which had been left vacant over the years.
The Dhaka Tribune has learnt that more than 4,000 posts for medical officers (assistant surgeons and dental surgeons) have been left vacant, because of the freedom fighters quota, during the past several years’ recruitment of Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) examination of the PSC.
Senior officials at the health ministry told the Dhaka Tribune that the PSC is set to recruit 6,240 doctors through the 33rd BCS, to fill up the vacancies.
Several high-ups of the heath sector also said the PSC had, for the first time, given permission to the health ministry to fill up the 4,000 vacant freedom fighter quota posts, by drawing from the general pool.
Prof Dr Khondokar Md Sifayetullah, director general of the health directorate, confirmed this information and said the move would help to fill up the vacant posts of medical officers across the country.
He said the PSC, over the last five years, had made 818 appointments in the 28th BCS, 222 in the 29th BCS, 560 in the 30th BCS, 303 in the 31st BCS and 565 in the 32nd BCS. Moreover 4,133 assistant and dental surgeons had been appointed on an ad hoc basis.
Seeking anonymity, several senior health officials said the general pool was not large enough for the ministry to be able to fill up the 8,000 existing vacancies for medical officers.
The freedom fighters quota had become a major obstacle in the normal recruitment process, as well as hampering the smooth operation of different health programmes, they also claimed.
Dr Sifayetullah said the freedom fighters quota left similar vacancies in other ministries as well. After 42 years of independence, it was next to impossible to get enough applications for the freedom fighters quota, as only a very few dependants (grandsons and granddaughters) of freedom fighters now applied, he said.
Dr Md Shah Newaz, director (administration) of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), said the problem of vacancies would now be solved after a long wait.
The PSC granted permission after the health ministry placed a request letter seeking permission to re-consider freedom fighters quotas, to fill up the 4,000 vacant posts.
Although the PSC had advertised for the recruitment of 2,442 doctors for the 34th BCS, authorities would now recruit 6,240 doctors, said Dr Newaz, adding that the recruitment process had started and would be completed soon.
The health examination of the selected 6,240 doctors will start from today and continue until January 29.