70 percent incentive to alleviate teacher shortage in medical sector

The government has taken the initiative to alleviate the teacher shortage in basic subjects in the medical sector.

As part of this, 70 percent incentive of the basic salary will be given to teachers of basic subjects in five medical universities, 37 government medical colleges, Dhaka Dental College, Center for Medical Education and 19 specialized institutions.

The Ministry of Health issued two notifications in this regard on Tuesday (October 4). This financial benefit will be effective from the current fiscal year.

Teachers teaching basic subjects - anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, pharmacology, forensic medicine, community medicine, pathology, microbiology, virology and anesthesiology - will be given an incentive of 70 percent of the basic salary as non-practicing allowance. However, teachers will receive this incentive subject to conditions.

Working post-graduate teachers of basic subjects will have to officially submit a non-practicing declaration for the purpose of payment of monthly incentive allowance.

If any teacher of the concerned subject fails to submit a non-practicing declaration or is proven to be involved in practicing, he will not be considered for receiving this incentive allowance.

All financial rules and regulations must be followed properly in the payment of this allowance. The rate of this allowance in the 1st National Pay Scale will remain unchanged and the authority paying the bill will be responsible if any irregularities are noticed in the expenditure related to the allowance in the future.

According to the information of the Directorate General of Health, there are a total of 6,446 teaching posts in 37 government medical colleges, out of which 2,700 posts are vacant. Of these, the highest number of 64.65 percent posts are vacant at the professor level.