Government to appoint 2,000 more doctors from 42nd BCS amid pandemic

The government is going to appoint 2,000 more doctors from the 42nd BCS on an emergency basis to tackle the coronavirus pandemic.

They will be appointed as assistant surgeons under the ninth grade on the national pay scale.

The Public Service Commission published a notice on the 42nd special BCS exams in November last year for the appointment of 2,000 doctors. Now the number of doctors from that BCS batch will be 4,000.

The Health Services Division announced the decision to create the new posts on Tuesday.

After a cabinet meeting on Monday, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said they were going to appoint 4,000 doctors and an equal number of nurses to provide medicare with coronavirus infections surging at a record pace.

“We will hire more because the doctors and nurses are exhausted from treating coronavirus patients for one and a half years,” Maleque said.

He said the recruitment process will be completed “very fast”, but would not go into the specifics.

The health ministry has asked the authorities to skip viva and police verification to fast-track the recruitment, the minister said. “They need to join quickly.”

The Public Service Commission had published a notice in June to appoint 409 anaesthetists to the posts of junior consultant only based on viva.

The PSC notice for the 42nd special exams of Bangladesh Civil Service under the health cadre was the first in the pandemic.

As many as 27,573 candidates took the preliminary exams on Feb 26 this year. The viva of 6,022 candidates, who passed the written exams, began on Jun 6, but it was suspended on Jun 22 due to a deterioration of the coronavirus situation.