'Upgrade nursing education to improve national healthcare'
There is also no provision enabling the universities and medical colleges to easily start graduate nursing programme and no nursing curricula of international standard have been developed for such programme, they said.
American International University-Bangladesh (AIUB) in association with The Daily Star, Research, Training and Management (RTM) International and a technology-related advisory firm Katalyst organised the roundtable titled 'The Nursing Profession in Bangladesh: Challenges and Opportunities' at Sonargaon Hotel in the city.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. "There is a shortage of qualified and skilled nursing workforce in the global market, including the UK, USA and Middle East, which is estimated to continue up to 2015. If Bangladesh can quickly start international standard nursing programme, it can capture a large portion of this potential market," said Dr Carmen Z Lamagna, vice-chancellor of AIUB.
Dr Ahmed Al Kabir, chief executive officer of RTM International, said the private sector will need 5,000 skilled nurses in the next five years, but the country is unable to produce adequate number of qualified nurses.
"If the private sector finds no skilled nurses in the country, it will be forced to bring them from outside," he said, adding that some hospitals, including Apollo, have already been hiring nurses from abroad.
Presently, the country has 38 nursing institutes offering four-year diploma courses and only one nursing college offering a two-year BSc course. Twelve more nursing institutes are under construction, according to the directorate of nursing services.
Bangladesh and Pakistan do not have enough institutes for graduate programme in nursing while such programmes are widely available and recognised in India and Sri Lanka, Dr Carmen said, adding that the rest of the world focuses on graduate programme.
The government is yet to finalise a certification process for private sector applicants for BSc programme while the institutes lack adequate number of teaching staffs, she said.
She also said there is no centre for Commission on Graduate Foreign Nursing Scheme in the country through which a nurse can qualify to work abroad. The country has also no policy to send skilled nurses abroad, she added.
Leading professionals also observed that the nurses in the country are not recognised financially and socially.
Nurses receive only Tk 1975 to 3920 per month, as against Tk 134,000 in developed countries, they said. Nurses also do not enjoy social or hazard benefits, as is usual in the developed world, they noted.
Nursing education in the country is also not mainstreamed, causing a problem of image building for nurses, Rahima Zamal, a lecturer of College of Nursing, said and urged the government to formulate a policy to mainstream the nursing education in universities.
The media highlights only the role of doctors in healthcare and forgets that the nurses also play a significant role, she observed. On the other hand, the ratio of doctor to nurse in the country is only 3:1 while it should be 1:3.
Bangladesh Nursing Council's Registrar Shamsunnahar said the nursing institutes lack adequate facilities for proper training for nurses and there is no-one to guide nurses when they join a hospital.
"Lack of equipment and facilities in the hospitals is also an obstacle to improving their quality," she pointed out. Absence of a nursing teachers' training institute is also responsible for the shortage of qualified teachers in the nursing institutes, she noted.
According to the directorate of nursing services, 40 per cent of nursing posts in the country are vacant due to lack of suitable candidates.
Nursing College teacher Mafiz Ullah said the employees in the nursing sector are not given due incentives. Rather, they are kept in the same position for a long time, he added.
Expressing concern over shortage of nurses, Dr Jafar Ahmad Hakim, director in-charge of directorate general of family planning, said the posts at upazila and union-level health complexes should be increased.
Rubayat Sarwar of Katalyst said most private hospitals and clinics do not employ as many nurses as required only to maximise their profits.
Mafruha Sultana, deputy secretary of health ministry, told the roundtable that the government is drafting a policy on graduate programme on nursing.
Moderating the roundtable, Editor of The Daily Star Mahfuz Anam said that if the professional bodies cooperate, his paper would be willing to introduce awards such as the 'Best Nurse of the Year' to recognise the services of nurses in healthcare and also to promote the public profile of this profession.
Former director of the directorate of nursing services Khadiza Begum, nurses from different institutes and medical professionals also spoke.