5 thousand 369 crore rupees have been returned to the government fund from the Ministry of Health as it could not be spent in the outgoing 2020-21 financial year. 13 thousand 865 crores were allocated to buy emergency health equipment including vaccines, ventilators, ambulances during the Corona epidemic. They have managed to spend 8 thousand 496 crores. This information has been highlighted in a report of the Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Department (IMED) of the Ministry of Planning.
It is known that the allocation in the health sector is less than the requirement in the budget. A large part of the money that is allocated goes back because it cannot be spent. Not only in the outgoing fiscal year 2020-21, but for the past few years, this is the picture in Bangladesh. In the financial year 2023-24, 9 thousand 794 crores have been allocated for the health sector.
Mats can never equate to MBBS. Technical Nursing and Care Giving cannot be synonymous with BSc Nursing. Any course affiliated to Board of Technical Education including Dental, Pharmacy, Pathology cannot be concurred with Institute of Health Technology (IHT).
Similarly, none of the mentioned certificates can be equivalent to BDS, MBBS, B.Sc. However, the inconsistency with these issues is not having employment opportunities at the appropriate place after the completion of the compulsory course.
As there is no recruitment notification some of the mats and diploma dental students started the chamber. Which an MBBS and BDS also does not get the opportunity to chamber so quickly but not all do these jobs some number of students do. As a result of this, various problems are created such as very few visits without any formal education and even surgery, which results in many accidents to the patients which we see in various news.
Do we really know Mats!? When I wrote the registration about this Medical Assistant Training School (MATS) in Bengali Wikipedia on December 3, 2019, I had to introduce it to fellow Wikipedians.
MATs is a Medical Assistant Training School which is an institution under the Department of Health, Bangladesh. It is called mats for short. Currently, the number of training schools in Bangladesh is 209, including government and private. At present there are 9 Government Medical Assistant Training Schools under the Department of Health.
According to the Five Year Plan (1973-78) of Bangladesh, with the aim of serving people’s health and family planning, in 1976, the Government of Bangladesh introduced a three-year diploma course under the Bangladesh National Medical Faculty, which was later extended to four years. It follows the curriculum of the State Medical Faculty of Bangladesh.
A student of this institute studies almost all the subjects of MBBS course like Microbiology, Pathology, Physiology, Anatomy, Medicine and Pediatrics, Gynecology and Obstetrics, Basic Surgery, Public Health and various paraclinical and clinical subjects for four years.
However, in the last 48 years in the health sector, according to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s first five-year plan (1973-1978), provision of higher education to MATs students has not been implemented. Although there is government job recruitment and employment system in all other diploma sectors in Bangladesh, no government recruitment or employment system has been taken for MATs diploma holders for the past one year. In view of this, all public and private MATs students across the country have decided to hold stricter and stricter student strike in the democratic process including boycotting classes and locking educational institutions for an indefinite period until their demands are met. At this time, the speakers sought the government’s intervention to fulfill the four-point gap, including upholding the internship and revising the inconsistent course curriculum.
The students of MATs have been boycotting classes since August 25 with the aim of achieving four-point demands. Among their demands are revision of course curriculum including internship, cancellation of Allied Health Board and immediate formation of independent board called Medical Education Board of Bangladesh, creation of employment and Quick recruitment system, provision of higher education as per Bangabandhu’s fifth anniversary plan. Speakers in the meeting urged the government to meet their four demands. They said – ‘Our four demands are the demands of students’ lives.’
First year student Nafisa Mumtaz said, “More than 20,000 medical assistant posts are vacant in district, upazila, union health centers. But there has been no recruitment for almost an age. Therefore, I request the intervention of the Prime Minister to quickly appoint this post
Student Hasibul Hossain Shanto said, “Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had established MATs in 1973 to deliver medical services at low cost to people’s doorsteps. There was talk of giving higher education opportunities to the students. But even after 40 years there is no opportunity for higher education.” For all these problems in the education system, many students are to blame.
When they see that the elders study so hard and spend money, they are not able to go to the appropriate place, then the new students get depressed.
Broke down and became inattentive to studies, which resulted in stopping studies and working to support the family.
Since the independence of Bangladesh, these sub-assistant community medical officers with DMF degrees have been providing medical services for the past 50 years to ensure the medical services of the marginal and rural people of the country to reach the doorsteps of the people.
Why is it happening again and again in our country that an intern doctor is not getting the honor they want. MATs students are not getting placements On the other hand technical education board under the purview of some time mass medical students were made and then closed technical board medical technology and nursing courses which are now affiliated to health ministry.
Students should stop the movement to build a bright future. Why should the students move?
What authorities should not take care of are the good and bad of the students. Why will the country move forward if this continues until there is no movement. One can see that students are agitating without understanding good and bad because once people get a taste for something, they want to do it again and again. Besides, this movement is not only harming the students or the participants in the movement, but the people around and above all the state is being harmed.
Therefore, the authorities should pay attention to all the problems including our education system, the educational system, the education system and all the ethics education. Find out where the problem lies and resolve it. Negotiate as necessary before the movement begins until a solution is reached. Zero tolerance should be announced to fight corruption.
There must be transparency, it is necessary to apply zero tolerance policy against corruption!
It is our hope that our country will be a well-planned, noise-free, orderly, beautiful, golden Bangladesh.
Taufiq Sultan – Student, Bangladesh Medical Institute, Dhaka
01746501454
towfiqsultan.help@gmail.com