Medical specialists requirement in the country is expected to be met by hiring specialists from India. The foreign minister shared this at meet the press session today.
He shared quite a number of Indian specialists expressed interest to work in Bhutan. Alongside this, he said the government is also following up with the Bangladeshi government to get in specialists from Bangladesh.
The foreign minister shared this while he was questioned on the government’s progress on hiring specialists from Bangladesh. He said the Bangladeshi specialists didn’t want to practise in Bhutan at the Cabinet approved pay package of 3500 USD per month.
“Regarding specialists from Bangladesh, the requests exchanges have already been made between the two countries. We have been following up with the Government of Bangladesh and they are trying to find ways to send doctors here. What we have understood is that the financial package that we have offered is not very attractive for the Bangladeshi specialists. So nevertheless, they are still trying,” said Dr Tandi Dorji, the Foreign Minister.
He said the media report of the Prime Minister Dr Lotay Tshering practising on Saturdays has sparked interest among Indian medical fraternity to come and work in Bhutan.
“So the Prime Minister has asked the health minister to see if we can talk to the medical fraternity- there are many medical associations in India; Indian Medical Association, State medical association. So through this, I think we are quite confident that we can now attract more from India to come as we have specialists showing interest from there. So we will be focusing on both Bangladesh and India.”
To address the shortage of health specialists in the country, health ministry signed a memorandum of understanding with the Bangladeshi Health and Family Welfare in April this year when the Prime Minister made his first visit to Dhaka. The Bangladeshi government was to send in 20 specialists and four sub-specialists to Bhutan as the Cabinet approves the team’s pay package.
