Professor Dr. Saqlain Rasel, head of the Vascular Surgery Department at Ibrahim Cardiac Hospital, has called for the immediate appointment of around 2,000 doctors who passed the 48th special BCS but have yet to be recruited, in order to address the ongoing shortage of physicians in the country.

He made the demand at a rally held at the National Press Club in Dhaka on Sunday morning.

Dr. Saqlain said that although these doctors successfully passed the exam, they have been unfairly denied recruitment. “The government has already appointed 3,000 doctors, but another 2,000 have been kept waiting unlawfully,” he alleged.

He rejected the government’s argument that recruiting too many doctors at once might create “future complications,” calling it “baseless and illogical.”

“There are currently about 13,000 vacant posts across the country. Appointing these 2,000 doctors will not cause any problem—rather, it will benefit the public,” Dr. Saqlain said. “In the 39th BCS, an additional 2,000 doctors were recruited beyond the initial quota. The government can do the same this time. Holding a new BCS exam would be time-consuming and costly, so appointing the current qualified candidates is the most practical solution.”

Echoing his view, Israfil Ahmed, one of the successful candidates from the 48th BCS, said, “News of doctor shortages in upazilas frequently appears in the media. Many doctors have to attend to 150–200 patients a day, making it impossible to ensure quality healthcare.”

He added that on average, there are only three to four doctors working in each of the country’s 445 upazilas, whereas at least 20 to 24 doctors are needed in each. Recently, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) recruited 3,120 doctors, including dental surgeons, but that number remains inadequate.

According to data from the Health Reform Commission and the Ministry of Health, about 12,980 doctor positions in government health institutions are currently vacant. Through the 48th (special) BCS, a total of 2,820 doctors—excluding dental professionals—have been recommended for appointment as assistant surgeons.

However, since recruitment processes for the 44th to 47th BCS batches are yet to be completed, many waiting candidates from those rounds also passed the 48th BCS, creating an overlap of around 2,000 repeat candidates.