Severe teacher shortage in government medical colleges: 3,052 of 6,555 posts vacant across 37 colleges

Government medical colleges in Bangladesh have struggled with a teacher shortage for years. In some colleges, 60 to 70 percent of approved posts are vacant. Across 37 government medical colleges, about 47 percent of posts in five categories are empty, raising concern about the quality of teaching, practical training and academic supervision in medical education.

According to Directorate General of Medical Education figures for this month, approved staffing across the five categories of professor, associate professor, assistant professor, curator and lecturer is 6,555. Only 3,503 are in post, meaning 3,052 posts are vacant. In July last year, 2,725 of 6,384 approved posts were vacant, so the situation has worsened somewhat in a year.

More than five and a half thousand students are admitted every academic year to MBBS and BDS courses at government medical colleges. Some older colleges also run MD, MS, FCPS, MPhil and diploma courses. Those concerned fear that without the necessary teachers, regular teaching and hands-on training are being disrupted, with effects on the professional skills of future doctors.

According to the directorate, general policy for medical education calls for one teacher for every 10 students and at least one postgraduate degree-holding teacher for every 25 students.

The shortage is worst in senior posts. Of 889 approved professor posts, 585, or 66 percent, are vacant. Of 1,680 associate professor posts, 928 (55 percent) are empty, and of 2,504 assistant professor posts, 1,354 (54 percent) are vacant. By contrast, 179 of 1,420 lecturer posts (13 percent) and 6 of 62 curator posts (10 percent) are vacant.

The directorate says the teacher shortage is greater at newer medical colleges. The 23 colleges established between 2008 and 2020 face various limitations over teachers, land, their own campuses and hospitals.

At Magura Medical College, established in 2018, 58 of 88 approved posts are vacant, a vacancy rate of about 66 percent. Seven of its 11 professor posts are empty, as are 18 of 23 associate professor posts and 20 of 26 assistant professor posts. The college has no academic or hospital building of its own. Its principal, Professor Dr Md Kamrul Hasan, said, 'No student course can be left incomplete. That is why we have to do extra work. We inform the authorities every month. They are trying to recruit and post teachers.'

At Gopalganj Medical College, established in 2011, only 4 professors are in post against 18 approved posts. Thirty-three of 46 associate professor posts and 49 of 67 assistant professor posts are vacant, and both curator posts are empty. At Sunamganj Medical College, established in 2020, 55 of 93 posts are vacant; at Sirajganj Medical College, established in 2014, 68 of 109; and at Habiganj Medical College, established in 2017, 54 of 87. The medical colleges in Habiganj, Kushtia, Netrokona, Pabna and Sirajganj have no professor in post at all.

Professor Dr Mohammad Iqbal Hossain, principal of Chandpur Medical College, said, 'In some subjects, the teachers and degree holders needed for promotion are not available. Elsewhere the promotion process is also slow. Education is being run with limited teachers.'

Older and larger medical colleges also face a shortage. At Barishal's Sher-e-Bangla Medical College, 207 of 346 approved posts are vacant, including 45 of 54 professor posts and 49 of 82 associate professor posts. Chattogram Medical College has 166 vacancies out of 425 posts, Mymensingh 183 of 350, Sylhet MAG Osmani 178 of 357, Dhaka Medical College 182 of 486 and Rajshahi Medical College 155 of 378.

Professor Dr Mostafa Toufik Ahmed, principal of Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College, said, 'Basic subjects such as anatomy, physiology and pharmacology have faced a teacher shortage for a long time. Despite initiatives including a non-practising allowance to attract doctors to these subjects, enough postgraduate degree holders are not available. In many cases doctors who studied or trained in other subjects are brought in on deputation as lecturers. That keeps academic work running but does not end the crisis. The main problem is the uneven distribution of teachers among colleges.' According to the directorate, in eight basic subjects including anatomy, microbiology, pathology and physiology, only 1,560 teachers are in post against 2,069 approved posts.

Despite no improvement in the situation, moves to establish new government colleges continue. Approval was given in May this year to establish Thakurgaon Medical College and in June for Narsingdi Medical College. Medical education specialists have urged that before a new institution opens, the necessary teachers, hospital and clinical training arrangements be properly considered. They also see delays in teacher recruitment and promotion as worsening the crisis.

Professor Dr Mozaherul Haq, a former senior consultant of the World Federation for Medical Education (WFME), said, 'The government established medical colleges in various places without assessing need. No planned initiative to ensure quality was seen. With the teacher shortage and academic gaps, quality doctors are not being produced. New medical colleges must be established on the basis of strategic planning.'

Over the past two years, about seven and a half thousand doctors have been promoted at various levels. But most of those promotions were made by creating additional (supernumerary) posts rather than against regular vacancies, so the medical colleges' regular vacant posts were not filled. Last October, for example, 599 doctors in gynaecology and obstetrics were promoted to supernumerary assistant professor posts. On 24 December the same year, 121 associate professors were promoted to professor, of whom 110 were supernumerary and only 4 were promoted against regular posts.

Directorate officials say the colleges' real need for teachers is more than three times the approved posts. Dinajpur Medical College is an example: approved in 1992 for 50 student places, it now admits 200 students every academic year, yet only 83 teachers are in post against 188 approved teacher posts.

The directorate's director general, Professor Dr Nazmul Hossain, said, 'A major cause of the teacher shortage is the uneven distribution of teachers. Many promoted teachers have not yet taken up their new posts. Some remain in their previous posts in situ, some as officers on special duty (OSD), and some are working outside the medical colleges. If they were posted to different colleges according to need, the crisis would ease considerably.' He said the medical colleges are under the Medical Education Division, but teacher promotion and first posting are the responsibility of the Health Services Division, which creates complications in posting teachers according to a college's needs.