Biometric attendance systems should be introduced in all government offices

Dr Badiuzzaman Bhuiyan Dablu speaks to DOT
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has issued a strict warning to government physicians and nurses to do their respective duties properly or to quit their jobs. “The Ministry of Health should conduct a survey to find out how many patients go to government hospitals and why doctors are not present at hospitals (district and upazila levels). If the transferred doctors do not engage in service then put them aside after making them OSDs. We do not need them; we will appoint new doctors,” she said on Sunday. She also ordered the recruitment of new doctors and transfer of those unwilling to treat patients in district hospitals. She told the nurses to give up their jobs if they do not want to serve.
She also called for the increased supervision of the quality of education at private medical universities. PM also asked the authorities concerned to introduce biometric attendance systems at all hospitals to ensure 100% attendance of all physicians, report BSS and UNB. The Prime Minister’s stern stance on doctors dodging duties comes hard on the heels of a stunning recent finding that 40 percent of doctors remain absent from hospitals during their duty hours. In a surprise visit to 11 government hospitals and health complexes in eight districts on January 21, the Anti-Corruption Commission found 92 doctors out of a total of 230, absent from their workplaces. In Bangladesh, people foot 67 percent of their own health bills while the government and other NGOs and charities, bear the remaining 33 percent of healthcare expenditures. PM asked doctors and nurses to pay due attention when a patient comes to a hospital. “Doctors must develop a service-oriented attitude,” the premier added. She said there is an attitude among nurses that they will not serve patients after being promoted to second-class jobs. “Nurses are not supposed to just provide medicine to patients,” said the premier.
The prime minister said making nurses second-class employees does not mean the government has to create another level of staff for providing services to patients (PM to doctors: Shape up or ship out, Dhaka Tribune, 27 January 2019).
In this regard, Dr Badiuzzaman Bhuiyan Dablu spoke to Daily Our Time and said that he appreciates the statement made by our PM. Dr. Dablu has been advocating for what PM said yesterday for a long time. He thinks that doctors of Bangladesh are mostly hardworking and responsible. He illustrated his statement stating that in a hospital of 500 beds with 5000 patients, most of the doctors work day and night with sincerity. However, for few irresponsible doctors, the whole community of doctors has to take the blame of irresponsible behaviors, which is just not right. Dr. Dablu thinks that biometric attendance systems should not be introduced in hospitals only; rather it should be introduced in all government offices.
Dr Badiuzzaman Bhuiyan Dablu is ex- health and population affairs secretary of Awami League.
(Interviewed by Tasmiah Nuhiya Ahmed, Executive Editor, Daily Our Time).