Govt to hire 125,000 health staff, midwives

The government plans to recruit 100,000 healthcare workers and 25,000 midwives over the next three to four years to strengthen primary healthcare services nationwide.

Prime Minister’s Special Assistant on Health Affairs S.M. Ziauddin Haider announced the plan while briefing reporters at the Secretariat after returning from an official visit to Lisbon, Portugal.

He said the government is working to shift the healthcare system from a treatment-focused approach to a prevention-oriented model by reinforcing primary healthcare services.

Haider added that initiatives are underway to establish primary healthcare units at union and ward levels, upgrade upazila health complexes to 100-bed facilities, and ensure integrated healthcare services for mothers and newborns.

The Prime Minister’s special assistant noted that special emphasis would be placed on training — before the large-scale recruitment of midwives — in order to improve the service quality at the grassroots level.

The government has already taken necessary steps to enhance the quality of training, he added.

Highlighting the government’s new plan for grassroots healthcare infrastructure, he said that a strong nationwide primary healthcare network would be established at the union level. Under the new network, existing community clinics and its health workers would provide healthcare services directly to people in their homes.