The government has begun work to address the severe shortage of human resources in the country’s public healthcare system and at the grassroots level.
In line with its election pledge, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has taken steps to implement the decision to recruit 100,000 health workers.
The massive recruitment drive will be completed in three phases. As part of the first phase, the government plans to recruit 45,700 workers in the current 2026–27 fiscal year.
At the same time, it will recruit 5,000 physicians through a special Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) examination to accelerate healthcare services at the grassroots level.
Sources in the Medical Education and Family Welfare Division and the Health Services Division confirmed the information.
The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) and the Directorate General of Family Planning are jointly working to determine the grades, status and scope of work of the newly recruited employees.
Coordinated measures and preparations for the first phase
A Health Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said multiple divisions and directorates under the ministry are involved in the large-scale recruitment process.
The authorities have taken coordinated initiatives to accelerate work in every area. Initial preparations are under way with a target of recruiting 45,700 workers in the first phase.
As part of the process, institutions under the Health Services Division have recently been instructed to make urgent direct appointments and promotions against vacant posts in grades 13 to 16.
A letter signed by Professor Jalal Uddin Mohammad Rumi, director (Administration) of the DGHS, stated that the authorities would recruit personnel for these posts promptly in accordance with the 2018 Non-Medical Employees Recruitment Rules.
The authorities have also instructed institutions where recruitment could not be completed despite previous advertisements because of lawsuits or administrative complications to obtain clearance for the vacant posts and issue fresh, coordinated recruitment notices. They have also called for any complications to be resolved promptly.
Severe shortage at the grassroots level and lessons from the past
At present, 18,947 of the 65,230 approved grassroots-level posts in the country remain vacant. Among them, 6,953 posts for the crucial position of health assistant and 8,293 posts for family welfare assistant are vacant.
In Lalmonirhat, 50 per cent of physicians’ posts remain vacant, while 160 of the 230 posts at Dhaka’s Central Medical Stores Depot (CMSD) are unfilled. This shortage of human resources has severely disrupted normal daily healthcare services at district and upazila levels.
Experts and health researchers say the authorities must learn from past mistakes while carrying out such a large-scale recruitment drive.
Professor Syed Abdul Hamid of the Dhaka University’s Institute of Health Economics believes that, rather than recruiting workers after providing only three months of training, it would be logical to prioritise nearly 40,000 unemployed nurses, 8,000 midwives and diploma-holding health technologists.
This would improve the quality of services while also reducing government expenditure, he observed.
Jobseekers fear delays in recruitment
The general public has welcomed the government’s decision to allocate a record Tk 694.09 billion (69,409 crore) to the health sector in the budget and give priority to women for 80 per cent of the posts. However, jobseekers remain concerned about bureaucratic delays.
Several jobseekers, speaking on condition of anonymity, expressed in any government recruitment process, years pass between the publication of a recruitment notice and the appointment of candidates.
According to them, the government must maintain strict oversight to ensure that lawsuits or administrative complications do not cause prolonged delays in this massive recruitment drive.
They have called for the phased recruitment process to be completed transparently and as quickly as possible, taking into account the public interest and the urgent need to ensure healthcare services.