Bangladesh News

At least 46 educational institutions on health technologies have been operating illegally for the last two years with approval from inappropriate authorities, providing three-year diploma courses to around 6,000 students.

These institutions acquired approvals from the Technical Education Board (TEB) instead of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the lone authority to approve educational institutes of health technologies (IHT).

“At an inter-ministerial meeting on November 18 last year, the education secretary asked the Technical Education Board to stop giving approval to the institutes of health technologies as it was illegal,” said Khondker Shefyetulla, director of Medical Education and Health Manpower Development of the Health Directorate.

The Technical Education Act under which the TEB operates does not provide any scope for such approval, he said.

The TEB has so far approved 77 IHTs of which 31 are not operating at present.

The health ministry will not value certificates on health technologies awarded by the TEB and the students from these IHTs will also not be eligible for working in any public or private health institution, added Shefyetulla.

There are three public and 29 private IHTs operating under the health ministry. In 2006, the TEB started giving approval to private institutes for running a three-year diploma course on medical technology.

According to the regulation of Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council, approval should be taken from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for running any health related certificate course, diploma or training.

Conflicts arose between the IHTs approved by the health ministry and the TEB, hampering the quality of education while the country lacks skilled health technologists, essential for ensuring quality health service to people.

Following the dispute, an inter-ministerial committee was formed on September 6 last year with the direct intervention of the chief adviser.

Shefyetulla is the member secretary of the committee, which decided at its meeting to run all IHTs under the health ministry.

In its November 18 report, the committee said the 77 institutes approved by the TEB should be affiliated with the health ministry-approved State Medical Faculty.

The other members of the committee are the additional secretary for health ministry, joint secretary (vocational and madrasa) for education ministry, and the joint secretary for law, justice and parliamentary affairs ministry.

The Technical Education Board is an autonomous body and so it did not seek permission from the health ministry before introducing these courses on health services, Education Secretary Momtajul Islam told the meeting.

He said he had talked to the TEB and it stopped approving such courses.

Talking to The Daily Star over telephone, TEB Chairman Dr Netai Chandra Sutradhar, however, said, “There is a legal basis for the Technical Education Board to approve health technology courses.

“The Technical Education Board is a regulatory body and different courses like diploma engineering, textile, agriculture and SSC vocational have been running through its approval,” he said.

When contacted, Prof MA Based, president of Bangladesh Association of Medical Technology Institutes (BAMI), an association of the TEB-approved health institutes, said, “We have heard that the institutions will have to continue their activities as they are doing now until the authorities take a decision in a year or two.”

Shefyetulla said, “The IHTs approved by the Technical Education Board are only doing certificate business. Even question arises on the quality of education these institutes are providing. The students of these institutes are being deceived.

“We recommended bringing all these institutes under one umbrella and that all these institutes should be approved by the health ministry and obey its rules and regulations,” he said. An act will be formulated soon to run all IHTs by the Board of Diploma Education, he added.

The recommendations included forming a standing committee to monitor these IHTs and report their performance to the health ministry. On the basis of that report, the ministry will then affiliate the IHTs with it within a year.

The private IHTs approved by the TEB will also get a chance to be affiliated with the health ministry after fulfilling the conditions of the amended Establishment Regulation of Health Technology Institutes in private sector, Shefyetulla said.

Experts said health technologists equipped with better understanding, knowledge and skills, especially in highly advanced imaging service like MRI, CT Scan and radiology, are an integral part of the pathological laboratories. They are equally essential in the physical medicine department for rehabilitation of the physically challenged.

Unfortunately, the number of medical technologists in the country is only 10,653, according to the health ministry.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) guideline suggests the ratio of doctor and medical technologist to be 1:5, but it is exactly the opposite in Bangladesh, they said.

To meet the WHO guideline requirement by 2025, 4.29 lakh medical technologists have to be prepared in the country.