The Bangladesh Private Medical College Association on Saturday at a discussion urged the government to take necessary measures to address their problem as they were facing an acute shortage of students in the ongoing MBBS session.
The BPMCA organised the discussion in the capital鈥檚 Centre on Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific auditorium to place their demand where they alleged that due to the automation system in the admission process they were facing an acute shortage of students in medical colleges across the country.
BPMCA president MA Mubin Khan said that聽 currently 67 private medical colleges were enrolling students for the 2023-24 academic year.
At least 1,200 seats out of total 6,208 seats in all private medical colleges remained vacant.
He said that seats reserved for foreign students and poor and meritorious quotas also remained vacant, among others.
He suspected that due to the automated system to select medical colleges created the problem.
He demanded cancellation of the system.
He also called for customising the system to suit their needs.
The government introduced the automation system in the 2022-23 academic year to ensure transparency stopping forgery and corruption in medical admission.
Since then, the private medical college owners have stood against it.
State minister for health Dr Rokeya Sultana said that it was important to know why students were not getting interested in medical admission.
She asked the authorities concerned to find whether automation or any other reason was behind the vacancy.
She said that automation was not behind it.
She also said that automation was not a new system and that it was in the Pakistan period.
She asked private medical college owners to improve their medical education quality as she found many problems there.
鈥業 don鈥檛 want to see you lose the permission for your medical colleges,鈥� she said.
Medical college owners and principals said that Bangladesh would not be able to earn foreign exchange if private medical colleges did not get students.
They said that there were four agencies of the government to monitor quality of medical education.
Former foreign minister AK Abdul Momen said that he was not aware of the system but had experience that there was a negative propaganda regarding the medial sector of the country.
鈥楾here is a trust gap between the medical sector and people. We should work to solve it,鈥� he said.
Former principal secretary Abdul Karim, Swadhinata Chikitsak Parishad president professor Jamal Uddin Chowdhury, World Bank head of education (South Africa) Mokhlesur Rahman, BPMCH secretary general Anwar Hossain Khan and its founding president Moazzem Hossain spoke at the discussion, among others.
