The Health Ministry has taken the initiative to recruit more doctors who offer alternative medical care services including Unani, Ayurvedic and Homeopathic treatments – at the district and upazila hospitals.
In a bid to boost the quality of alternative medical care (AMC) in the country, 271 new doctors – 94 from the homeopathic discipline, 92 from Unani and 85 from Ayurvedic – will be appointed at the upazila and district level hospitals, health directorate sources said. Currently, the 45 district hospitals in the country each have only one doctor offering AMC services.
The recruitment test is scheduled on June 7, with 536 candidates expected to appear.
Several senior health officials told the Dhaka Tribune that most high-dose antibiotic drugs are not as effective as before, because of irrational use of allopathic drugs.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has also recommended alternative health care systems to avoid health risks.
Dr Dinesh Sutradhor, director (AMC) of the health directorate, told the Dhaka Tribune that traditional health care services are safe methods of treatment.
Sutradhor, also the line director of the AMC programme in Health Nutrition and Population Sector Development Programme (HNPSDP), added that the drugs used for traditional treatment have no side effects and are more cost-effective than any other modern treatment method.
He said a five-yearly (2011-2016) operation plan of the AMC programme has been running under the HPNSDP to popularise and create awareness among the general people to take traditional medicine.
Sutradhor said they had set a target to provide alternative health care to 30% patients at public hospitals across the country. Around 15% to 20% patients in 45 districts are currently getting health care from alternative doctors, he claimed.
One of the chief targets set by the government under the National Health Policy 2011 was to upgrade the traditional health care system and education.
Health directorate sources said the country currently has three public unani, ayurvedic and homeopathy colleges, as well as 21 other unani and ayurvedic colleges in the private sector.
Khodadad Khan, an adviser to the Unani Oshud Shilpa Samiti, told the Dhaka Tribune that traditional medicine was used for treating 24 diseases under primary health care in Bangladesh. More than 82% raw materials of traditional medicine were available inside the country, he added.
He said India, Nepal, China and many other European countries are now relying on traditional medicine for primary health care.
Dr Rashid-e-Mahbub, president of Health Rights Movement Bangladesh, said the alternative doctors are now unable to gain the patients’ trust, although a large number of people had relied on knowledgeable alternatives doctors in the past.
He said alternative treatments could be used for children, but not for emergency care. However, the qualification of the doctors and the quality of medicine should be checked properly, he added.
