Readers’ Voice

The Lifeblood of Diagnosis: Why medical technologists are unimportant

The health system was almost overwhelmed by the global corona infection. Bangladesh is also not out of this crisis.

People from various professions have come forward risking their lives to face the challenge of the Covid-19 epidemic. Ignoring the fear of death, medical technologists, pharmacists jumped as frontline fighters.

But in return for them too, only a picture of negligence has emerged everywhere. The importance, work and challenges faced by medical technologists have been repeatedly highlighted through electronic, print and social media.

Realizing the importance of medical technologists, people of all classes and professions, including public health experts, have been requesting the government to employ them in various ways. But the sad thing is that even though the people of their respective departments are engaged in sensitive work in the field of curing the disease, including taking samples, X-ray, CTscan, MRI, various tests and providing the results, as frontline fighters risking their lives to fight against Corona, carrying out such a huge responsibility like diagnosis and treatment.

The department has always treated these professionals in an insurable manner.

Although various claims have been reported to the authorities for a long time, for unknown reasons, the health department is pretending not to hear them.

The medical services in the country’s hospitals are open 24 hours a day through three shifts; they are conducted at certain times of the day due to the inadequacy of the required manpower, i.e. medical technologists. Due to the lack of this facility at the government level, the poor people are forced to take high-priced private services; which becomes a challenge for them.

But the health department has shown indifference this time too. But it is very sad that, on the one hand, many thousands of medical technologists have reached their retirement age due to the suspension of recruitment for 12 years, on the other hand, due to lack of employment, about 30,000 unemployed medical technologists are living a humane life.

According to the information of the Department of Health, the number of registered doctors in the country is more than one hundred and three thousand; the number of nurses is little over 73,000.

According to the guidelines of the WHO, there are three nurses and five technologists against one doctor, while the number of diploma medical technologists is only 5,200 against 30,000 doctors at the government level.

But this number was supposed to be like one and a half lakh. Again, medical technologists who complete 4-year diploma medical technology course enter 11th grade at the beginning of their career, while other diploma holders with equal qualifications such as diploma engineers, diploma agriculturists, diploma nurses are joining jobs in 10th grade, which is a manifestation of extreme discrimination.

We request the newly appointed Health Minister to appoint Medical Technologists and Pharmacists as per WHO guidelines in government hospitals keeping in mind the diagnosis of common people’s diseases.

Motasim Billah Munna
Pharmacists & Social Worker