The Health Ministry is facing difficulties in assigning postings to around 350 married doctor couples who recently joined the country's health sector and applied to be posted at the same workstation with their spouse.
Among over 6,000 doctors coming through the pool of the 33rd BCS examination, around 700 of them are married couples, sources said.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Health Minister Mohammed Nasim had earlier promised that if any doctor picked under the latest round of recruitment also had a spouse who was also chosen to join, the couple would get posting at the same workstation.
Habibur Rahman Khan, joint health secretary (personnel), admitted to the Dhaka Tribune that the ministry was facing troubles accommodating the doctor couples at the same workstations as there were fewer vacancies compared to the large number of couples who applied for the special posting privilege.
Organising work postings had become difficult because there were different kinds of vacant posts in different division, district hospitals and upazila health complexes, he added.
Meanwhile, as the ministry continues arranging postings for the newly recruited doctors, the health minister's promise – which he made on August 7 – on assigning workstations to the fresh doctors within one week, has ended.
Seeking anonymity, several senior officials of the ministry told the Dhaka Tribune that a primary list of postings had been completed on Thursday; but the list could not be finalised before offices closed for two days of weekly holidays and another day of government holiday on Sunday.
However, the ministry officials will reportedly be working throughout the weekend to scrutinise the list and complete the process.
After offices reopen on Monday, the final list would be submitted before the health minister for his approval, officials from both Health Ministry and health directorate said. Ultimately, the order would be issued next Wednesday or Thursday, they expressed hopes.
“It is not an easy job to provide postings to a total of 6,037 doctors at a time; but we want to make the posting list with as few errors as possible,” Joint Secretary Habibur Rahman said.
Most new doctors are reportedly lobbying for postings in and around divisional cities and are reluctant to join in the remote areas like hoar, char and hill tracts. Among the 6,037 doctors, 2,054 have reportedly applied for postings in and around Dhaka city, or for assignments at different districts of Dhaka division.
