The government has announced plans to recruit approximately 100,000 health workers over the next three years as part of an initiative to expand and integrate primary healthcare services nationwide. This move seeks to unify three existing categories of field-level health workers—health assistants, family welfare assistants, and community health care providers (CHCPs)—under a single workforce, designated as health and wellbeing assistants.
Currently, there are around 40,000 such workers operating separately across rural and urban areas, with each cadre functioning under different government bodies: health assistants under the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), family welfare assistants under the Directorate General of Family Planning (DGFP), and CHCPs managed by the Community Clinic Health Support Trust. Of the 58,000 posts available across these three cadres, approximately 42,900 are filled, leaving about 15,000 vacancies.
The integrated workforce is expected to total around 150,000 employees, combining existing personnel with new recruits. These workers will be deployed through proposed health and wellbeing centers at the union level in rural areas and ward levels in city corporations. Their responsibilities will be expanded to include routine household visits at least once every two months, basic health checkups, health advice, vaccination, contraceptive distribution, and medicine provision. Workers will be equipped with specialized kits, tablet computers, and access to centralized health information systems to better coordinate care.
State Minister for Health MA Muhit emphasized that strengthening primary healthcare is a key promise in the ruling BNP’s election manifesto, which also specified that 80% of new recruits would be women. Muhit noted that the current fragmented system often results in duplication of services in some households, while others receive little to no care. The integration aims to streamline operations by assigning specific duties within a unified cadre and providing refresher training for existing workers alongside training for new hires.
The recruitment process will be phased over three years, with nearly 10,000 posts created in urban areas in the first year, followed by additional urban and rural posts in subsequent years, totaling 99,657 new positions. The Health Services Division (HSD) has accepted recommendations from a special committee tasked with overseeing the integration, which included government officials and health experts. The committee’s report was submitted to the Cabinet Division, and the prime minister’s office formed a high-level committee to supervise the process earlier this year.
However, the plan has met some resistance from workers' associations. Fazlul Haque Chowdhury, member secretary of the Bangladesh Health Assistant Association Central Coordination Council, expressed concern that the proposal had not been discussed with worker representatives. He highlighted differences in educational qualifications, pay grades, recruitment rules, and employment status among the three groups, calling for clearer information on how integration would be managed.
Similarly, Ferdusi Akter, general secretary of the Bangladesh Family Welfare Assistants’ Association, said the families’ assistants had not been consulted and questioned how roles with distinct responsibilities could be merged. Officials from the health ministry responded that high-level department officials were involved in the process and that consultation with worker associations was not planned at this stage, describing the initiative as a government policy decision that employees are required to follow.
The government is also taking steps to fill current vacancies promptly and advance training programs in preparation for the new recruitment phases. Administrative restructuring is underway but remains complex due to the need for coordination across departments and alignment of employment grades. Despite these challenges, officials report significant progress toward implementing the integration, which they say will help fulfill the commitment to deliver healthcare services directly to people’s doorsteps.