By
Professor Mahfuz R. Chowdhury
The author teaches Economics at the CW Post Campus of
Long Island University, New York
Introduction:
It is a well known fact that the demand for healthcare workers in the advanced as well
as other countries of the world is both huge and expanding. One of the contributing
factors is indeed longer life expectancy. These healthcare workers consist of nurses,
nurse’s aides, physical therapists, medical assistants, dental assistants, x-ray
technicians, lab assistants, hygienists, homecare attendants for the elderly, and
others.
Currently, India, Sri Lanka and the Philippines are dominating in these fields.
Bangladesh, by setting up a special school or program for preparing these healthcare
workers, could compete with these countries for such jobs abroad. Considering the
prevailing economic and manpower situation, Bangladesh has a great potential for
success. But the obvious question is: how best to organize the country’s manpower to
accomplish this?
To achieve such an objective, the country could take both short and long term plans.
It might be true that the well-to-do in the country would be less inclined to take up
these healthcare professions, but the poor might face serious financial constraint in
pursuing such careers. Therefore, the government would have to provide stipends to
the poor students. If necessary, the government could seek financial assistance from
the World Bank or other international organizations to set up or even run this
program.
Short-Term Plan:
This program should begin with a national campaign to motivate the citizens to take
up healthcare professions with the sole purpose of going abroad. People might be
somewhat reluctant to accept these professions in the beginning, but in view of the
existing high unemployment rate in the country, many people would be inclined to
embrace healthcare professions. This is especially true in the case of those who are in
the low income bracket.
Initially, a pilot program with selected healthcare fields may be started in the city of
Dhaka with readily available candidates with bachelor degree in science. The students
that have obtained their B.Sc. degree with Biology in good standing should be
considered for this program. These students could be organized for crash courses in
certain healthcare fields. Some specialized healthcare professions would require
rigorous training which might necessitate a longer time to prepare, while some could
be readied in a much shorter time. Thus, depending on the healthcare field chosen,
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these students could be trained and readied to take up jobs abroad in two years or
even in a shorter period of time.
After having gained enough experience and measured the pilot program’s overall
success, the program could be expanded to cover other parts of the country. Using the
experience of the pilot program, special procedures for a long term program could
then be developed.
Long-Term Plan:
In order to train and market healthcare workers abroad, a long term national program
with specific goals should be established. The government could begin by establishing
a National Healthcare Institute (NHI) in the country for coordinating the overall
training and granting of diplomas in healthcare fields. The NHI could function as an
extension to the country’s Central Medical College or Post Graduate Medical College in
Dhaka. All courses in healthcare could be provided at the country’s medical colleges.
Thus, the NHI would operate with a much smaller budget as it need not to maintain a
big faculty or class room facilities, except for a specific training or course in healthcare
that might not be offered by the existing medical colleges. In all circumstances,
however, the NHI would be responsible for establishing course syllabus for all
healthcare fields, even though the students might be taking those courses at different
medical colleges.
If it is desirable, the Ministry of Education could play a part in initiating the program
from the nation’s high school. Whether the Ministry of Education is engaged there or
not, the NHI should be the final coordinator of the program after HSC examination.
Once students have earned their healthcare diplomas by using the procedures outlined
below, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in collaboration with the Ministries of Labour and
Expatriates, could coordinate their job search abroad.
Program Implementation:
The following guidelines might be used for selecting the prospective candidates from
different parts of the country and for implementing the long term program:
The Ministry of Education could start by setting up an Education Department in each
Division of the country. This Department would then request all high schools within its
jurisdiction to submit a list of potential candidates for healthcare professions. The list
would include interested students from the science group who might achieve at least
second division in the SSC Examination.
The Divisional Education Department, in collaboration with the NHI, would screen the
prospective candidates by administering a standard test, which would include
students’ basic knowledge of English. The final candidates could be selected based on
the students’ educational record and the quota to be established by the Ministry of
Education for each Division. After the selection, the students would be given a list of
courses to take, preferably in English, for their HSC examination at designated
colleges in their area.
Alternatively, the Ministry of Education, without creating the Divisional Education
Department, could simply circulate specific guidelines for high school students who
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intend to pursue healthcare fields on the type of courses they would need to take for
their HSC Examination.
Once students have successfully completed their HSC examination with acceptable
grades, they would be scrutinized again and accepted for a healthcare field based on
their academic achievements and available seats in each field.
After a healthcare field is chosen through this process, students would then be
assigned to a medical college within their respective area for taking the assigned
courses. For a course not offered there, the NHI would make special arrangements to
provide such instructions. Thus, for all academic courses to be taken after HSC, the
NHI would maintain a register of students for its program even though they would be
attending different medical colleges in the country. The NHI would monitor their work
to ensure that proper education standard is maintained everywhere. Upon completion
of all required courses, including computer literacy and English proficiency, the NHI
would administer the final test before granting its healthcare diploma.
In the case of students with financial constraints, the government would provide
necessary stipends to the prospective students for both HSC and medical college
courses. These stipends, however, might be provided as a loan to the students, with
stipulation that the money would be reimbursed to the government in installments
after they successfully gain employments either abroad or at home.
Foreign Affiliation:
In order to increase the acceptability of Bangladeshi trained healthcare workers
abroad, the National Healthcare Institute should try to obtain affiliation or make other
special arrangements with a reputable foreign university for the adopted programs.
The arrangements with a foreign university might be obtained in one of three ways:
(1) By employing the foreign university as a consultant or advisor, (2) By engaging
the university to provide all technical supports without requiring it to award any
diploma in its name, or (3) By forging a full partnership with the university to manage
all academic programs as well as awarding of diplomas in its name. The costs of any
such arrangement would vary depending on the type of plan adopted. For example, in
the latter case, foreign university would insist on directly managing courses after HSC
examination, which would invariably contribute to much higher costs.
Marketing of Graduates:
The National Healthcare Institute could organize a highly professional employment
consulting service to advise the diploma holders on marketing themselves abroad. It
could provide the candidates with computers and internet services in different
locations in the country. The students would try to collect employment data through
the internet and other sources, and would attempt to obtain job offers on their own.
However, in some cases their information might be limited or insufficient. So the
government might have to take the ultimate responsibility for marketing them abroad.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs could take the initiative by floating circulation to all
foreign embassies in Dhaka on the availability of graduated healthcare workers in the
country. In addition, it could send fliers to its embassies abroad for circulation to the
prospective employers there. Bangladeshi doctors working abroad could also provide
important leads. If and when the Foreign Ministry locates a big employer of healthcare
workers in a foreign country, such as a medical center, hospital or nursing home, it
could try to negotiate a job contact with the respective employer. It could even try to
obtain some kind of preferential treatment for Bangladeshi healthcare workers from
the host government, where such arrangements might be helpful or available.
The Foreign Ministry, after collecting the employment data from its foreign sources,
would submit the available information to the Ministries of Labour and Expatriates for
their processing of the job applications with the diploma holders. For this purpose, all
the Ministries could establish a workable procedure to assist the candidates in
obtaining their job offers. The government might even move to set up a separate
department to coordinate the whole process.
In special circumstances, some candidates might require financial assistance for their
travel abroad even after they have obtained their job offers either through their own
effort or through the government. The government could arrange for their overseas
travel expenses by establishing a procedure for reimbursement.
Conclusion:
This is merely an outline of a plan. Before implementing a plan of this nature many
more details would have to be worked out. But it is feasible. With good education and
proper management of the program, Bangladesh could easily compete with other
countries in healthcare professions. By increasing the country’s manpower export
through such a program, Bangladesh could not only reduce its unemployment rate at
home, but also significantly boost its foreign exchange earnings.
Note: If the government is interested in adopting this proposal and require additional
information, including obtaining affiliation with an American university, may contact:
Mahfuz R. Chowdhury, PhD
Phone: 516-485-2783
Email: mahfuz.chowdhury@liu.edu
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