The number of anaesthesiologists in the country is very low compared to the demand because of a lack of opportunity in both studying the subject and practice.
Professor Dr ABM Maksudul Alam, president of the Society of Anaesthesiologists, said the number of anaesthesiologists in the country stands at around 1,000.
According to Alam, there is little scope to pursue studies in this field at present as a mere 50 students enrol in the four-year postgraduate degree and the two-year diploma degree in anaesthesia every year.
“We are lobbying the government to increase the number of seats for doctors to pursue higher studies in the subject. Besides, the BSMMU recently issued a circular to enrol 200 doctors in the diploma course,” said Alam.
“In the future, the step will help a lot to recruit the diploma degree holders to work in districts and upazilas,” he added.
Because of the shortage of qualified anaesthesiologists, not the expected number of patients at the public health institutes, especially the district hospitals and upazila health complexes, can undergo surgical procedures, sources said. Moreover, there exists an acute shortage of necessary medical equipment at these institutes that make it difficult for anaesthesiologists to work smoothly.
Dr Khalilur Rahman, former president of Society of Anaesthesiologists and also an adviser at Square Hospitals and Birdem Hospital, told the Dhaka Tribune that a large number of patients die during surgical procedures for the lack of adequate and qualified anaesthesiologists.
“Although there is no official data, the number of patients dying during surgical procedures will be 20 times higher in Bangladesh compared to the developed countries,” he said.
Khalilur said the majority of the doctors fresh out of college feel reluctant to do higher studies in anaesthesiology as it is not a very attractive field in terms of earnings potential.
“Anaesthesiologists do not get paid for seeing patients in chamber and they do not generally get social recognition as other doctors do. Moreover, they have less opportunities to receive foreign training in the subject. The situation is set to get worse in the future,” he said.
Khalilur observed the government should immediately introduce extra incentives to attract more professionals in this field.
Professor Dr Abdur Rahman, head of the Anaesthesiology Department at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, told the Dhaka Tribune: “I have observed that junior doctors do not feel interested to pursue higher studies in anaesthesiology. They said they can get better opportunities to make more money if they study other subjects like surgery, gynaecology and neurology. They also said compared to other doctors, anaesthesiologists remain less familiar in the profession.”
Dr Sudip Ranjan Dev, assistant professor of medicine at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, told the Dhaka Tribune that anaesthesiologists do not have the direct opportunity to see patients in chambers like the general physicians.
“They have to depend on surgeons. If a surgeon calls an anaesthesiologist to assist him, there lies his opportunity to earn. While senior anaesthesiologists get frequent calls because they have developed good relations with surgeons, junior ones do not have such opportunity. Because of the dependency on others, doctors who have brilliant results feel reluctant to go for higher studies in anaesthesia,” he added.
The World Anaesthesia Day 2014 was observed yesterday.
