Following several rounds of postponements, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) has finally set March 28 for holding recruitment test to fill up 1,808 vacant posts of third and fourth-class employees in 26 districts.
Sources said a five-member central recruitment committee, headed by DGHS Additional Director General Subash Kumar Saha, met on Sunday to fix the date.
More than one lakh candidates will appear for the hour-long test, which will be on 100 marks of multiple-choice questions.
The DGHS has received 81,944 applications against 1,260 vacancies for third-class posts, and 22,170 applications for 548 vacant posts of fourth-class employees.
Dr Shah Newaz, DGHS director (administration) and member secretary of the central recruitment committee, told the Dhaka Tribune that authorities had twice before scheduled dates to hold written exams for hiring 1,185 third and fourth-class employees in 19 districts, but had to postpone because of political unrest.
The latest date, however, would see written tests for vacant posts in 26 districts, which include vacancies at seven districts that were not scheduled to see tests before.
The committee, on the other hand, could not decide on publishing the results of 915 vacant posts for third and fourth-class employees at nine more districts, the written tests for which was held on April 26 last year, and the viva voce on August 26.
However, the publication of the result was put on hold following a High Court stay order based on a writ petition alleging massive corruption in the recruitment process; the stay order was lifted recently.
The nine districts were Narayanganj, Mymensingh, Faridpur, Naogaon, Narail, Jessore, Satkhira, Barisal and Noakhali.
Seeking anonymity, senior officials of the health ministry and the health directorate told the Dhaka Tribune that the whole recruitment process for the nine districts would be cancelled and fresh advertisements for recruitment would be published.
Health Minister Mohammed Nasim was against publishing the results of the controversial recruitment, the sources said, but added that further discussion will be held before making a final decision.
In 2013, the DGHS invited applications for vacant third and fourth-class posts in Rajbari, Gazipur, Barguna, Madaripur, Kurigram, Dinajpur, Thakurgaon, Lalmonirhat, Gaibandha, Panchagarh, Rangpur, Nilphamari, Jamalpur, Faridpur, Natore, Chapainawabganj, Pirojpur and Bhola.
Fresh applications were also invited in January this year for seven more districts: Shariatpur, Gopalganj, Maulvibazar, Manikganj, Narsingdi, Brahmanbaria and Joypurhat.
Kabir Chowdhury, administrative officer of the DGHS, told the Dhaka Tribune that samples of the exam admit cards have been sent to all 26 civil surgeon’s offices, which would issue the cards to the applicants and conduct the test on March 28.