Government Monitoring Mechanism for the Private Medical Colleges in Bangladesh

Abstract

Medical education plays a pivotal role in shaping the healthcare workforce of any country. In Bangladesh, both public and private medical colleges contribute significantly to producing competent healthcare professionals. Private entrepreneurship is relatively new in the medical education field in Bangladesh, however, the number of private medical colleges is double than the public ones now. This research aimed to identify the challenges of existing monitoring mechanism of the private medical colleges in Bangladesh and explore more appropriate strategies to enhance the monitoring mechanism by the government for fostering better compliance and overall educational quality in those institutions. The study employed both primary and secondary data to gather comprehensive information. Primary data collected through Key Informant Interview (KII), Focus Group Discussion (FGD) and Case Study. The secondary data gathered from relevant literatures, documents, official letters and websites. The study found that absence of centralized database for managing information, manual service delivery procedure, overlapping administrative authority and their poor coordination, no ranking system of the institutions, and lack of comprehensive handbook of all relevant laws (Acts, Rules, Circulars, Office Orders etc.) are the main challenges of the existing monitoring mechanism by the Government. More fruitful monitoring can be done through automated service delivery, ensuring accreditation, rigorous inspection and sudden visit, using comprehensive and appropriate format for inspection report, introducing ranking system and facilitating collaboration among public and private institutions.