Acute shortage of workforce strains health services, recruitment drive on

Bangladesh's public healthcare system has faced severe workforce shortages for many years, particularly at the grassroots level. The lack of essential healthcare providers has prevented many people from receiving the services they need.

To address the crisis, the government has decided to recruit 100,000 new healthcare workers under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare as quickly as possible.

In addition, it will appoint 5,000 more physicians through a Special Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) examination. On 13 July, Sardar Md Sakhawat Hossain, Minister for Health and Family Welfare, confirmed the decision in the National Parliament.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the most acute shortage exists among frontline healthcare workers. Of the 65,230 approved posts in this sector, 18,947 remain vacant.

Among the most critical positions, 6,953 of the 20,909 approved posts for Health Assistants (HA) remain unfilled. Health Assistants play a vital role in delivering primary healthcare services and administering vaccination programmes.

The ministry also reported vacancies in several other frontline positions, including: 8,293 Family Welfare Assistant (FWA) posts; 3,161 Family Welfare Visitor (FWV) posts; and 540 Community Health Care Provider (CHCP) posts.

Abdul Hakim, civil surgeon of Lalmonirhat, said that 50 per cent of physician posts in his district remain vacant.

He added that shortages among frontline healthcare workers have reached a critical level, forcing officials and staff to operate with fewer than half of the required workforce.

A similar situation exists at the Central Medical Stores Depot (CMSD) in Tejgaon, Dhaka. Of its 230 approved positions, only 70 are currently filled, leaving 160 posts vacant.

The proposed national budget for the 2026–27 fiscal year allocates a record Tk 69,409 crore to the health sector, equivalent to 1.01 per cent of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The proposed allocation is almost double the revised allocation of Tk 35,477 crore for the previous fiscal year.

In his budget speech, Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, minister of Finance, stated that 80 per cent of the planned recruitment would come from female candidates, a measure intended to accelerate employment generation and strengthen women's empowerment.

The government has already launched several recruitment initiatives at different stages to overcome the workforce shortage.

To increase the number of physicians, the authorities are processing the recruitment of: 450 Assistant Surgeons through the 45th BCS; 1,682 Assistant Surgeons through the 46th BCS; 1,331 Assistant Surgeons through the 47th BCS; 3,263 Assistant Surgeons through the 48th BCS; and 650 Assistant Surgeons through the 50th BCS.

At the same time, the authorities are completing the final stages of appointing candidates who passed the written and oral examinations for the posts of Senior Staff Nurse and Grade-10 Midwife.

Providing an update on the recruitment process, Jalal Uddin Md Rumi, director (Administration) at the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), said, "We have begun the recruitment process for 100,000 healthcare workers to address the workforce shortage in the health sector. At present, we recruit frontline healthcare workers under three separate categories. We have decided to merge these into a single category. However, before implementing the change nationwide, we will launch a pilot project to assess its advantages and disadvantages."

Although job seekers have welcomed the government's large-scale recruitment initiative, many remain concerned about bureaucratic delays and administrative complexities.

Several applicants, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that in Bangladesh, government recruitment often takes years from the publication of a recruitment notice to the examinations, final results, verification, and appointments. In many cases, legal disputes or administrative delays bring the entire process to a standstill.

The government must ensure that similar delays do not affect this large-scale recruitment of healthcare workers and physicians, they said.