Training

Type of Training – Diploma, 2 step education program (special program for practicing family physicians), Residency

Length of Training – Diploma (1 year).

Residency-4 years

Year Family Medicine established – 2014

Number of family medicine residents graduating each year – unknown

Number of institutions that offer family medicine – Bangladesh Institute of Family Medicine & Research [BIFMR] that is an Institute of the University of Science & Technology Chittagong [USTC]

practice

Number of family doctors – 220

Physician to population ratio – 1:4775, in rural areas (1:10000)

DALY: 26,569/100,000 individuals (due to all causes).

Life Expectancy:

• Females 2017: 74.0 years

• Males 2017: 70.0 years

Mortality rate 2017:

• Males: 146 per 1,000 male adults

• Females: 57 per 1,000 female adults.

Infant Immunization-HepB3: % of 1-year-old children received: 98%

College of Family Physicians (Y or N):

• Yes: Bangladesh Academy of Family Physicians (BAFP)

training

The Bangladesh Institute of Family Medicine & Research [BIFMR] that is an Institute of the University of Science & Technology Chittagong [USTC] and an academic member of WONCA offers a one-year family medicine diploma program (WONCA, n.d.). This is the only university to offer a course in family medicine in Bangladesh (WONCA). There are more than 200 lectures that are arranged and delivered on only Fridays, in addition to teaching some clinical examinations, patient handling techniques, instrument handling and others (WONCA). Students are assigned to a family medicine teacher in their area, where students are expected to keep records and submit a logbook to provide proof of their work (WONCA). Highly competent full-time faculty within the family medicine discipline and from other specialties teaches students in the program. The family medicine diploma course was established in 2014 (WONCA).

The family physicians who are already practicing also need training, but they are very busy and cannot stop their practice, hence the Bangladesh Institute of Family Medicine & Research [BIFMR] has created a 2-step education program for these family physicians (Rahman, 2018). The Bangladesh Academy of Family Physicians was formed on April 7, 1995 (Bangladesh Academy of Family Physicians, n.d.).

practice

The role of a family physician depends on the place of the practice, Majority of the physicians are practicing in the urban areas, while the situation is much worse in the rural areas since primary healthcare is provided by inexperienced people, rural and traditional medical practitioners, and paramedics (Rahman, 2018). The population in urban areas depends on fresh or experienced medical graduates, and specialists for day-to-day healthcare needs (Rahman, 2018). Specialists provide primary health care and there is no gatekeeping done, hence no referral is needed to visit a specialist. The physician to patient ratio is 1:4775 (Mamun-Al-Mahtab et al., n.d.).  In rural areas the physician to patient ratio is 1:10000. A trend of physician unemployment and underemployment has emerged due to the lack of adequate planning (Bangladesh Academy of Family Physicians, n.d.).