Prime Minister Tarique Rahman said the government has begun work on the plan to recruit one lakh health workers in line with its election pledge. The initiative has been taken to overcome the severe staffing shortage in the country's healthcare and at the field level. He said this in his speech as chief guest at an exchange meeting with expatriate Bangladeshis in Japan on Wednesday (28 October). Earlier, at the beginning of this month, the Prime Minister said the same at the ‘Bay of Bengal Conversation’ event, where he mentioned that nearly 80 percent of the recruits would be women, who will provide primary healthcare at the grassroots level.
It is learned that this massive recruitment drive will be completed in three phases. In the current 2026-27 fiscal year, the first phase plans to recruit 45,700 workers. In addition, 5,000 doctors will be recruited through a special BCS to increase services at the peripheral level. According to sources at the Ministry of Health, to implement the first phase of recruitment, instructions have been given for urgent direct recruitment and promotion to vacant posts in grades 13 to 16 in institutions under the Directorate General of Health Services. Currently, against the 65,230 approved posts at the field level in the country, 18,947 posts are vacant, as a result of which healthcare at the district-upazila level is being severely disrupted.
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