Year
2026
Reform Domain
Manifesto Watch
Women
Sub Domain
Health Services
Source of Reform Proposals
Election Manifesto of Bangladesh Nationalist Party - BNP
Reform Proposed
Reform Initiated
Legal and Policy Framework
Operationalisation
Action Implementation
Stage of Implementation
Reform Proposed
Last Update: 03-Aug-26
This pledge was articulated in the election manifesto of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) for Bangladesh’s 13th national election. In its election manifesto for Bangladesh’s 13th National Election, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) states that “To ensure healthcare for all citizens nationwide, around 100,000 new health workers will be recruited, 80% of them women.”
Reform Initiated
Last Update: 15-Oct-26
On 4 March 2026, the government formally discussed implementation of the pledge and confirmed that the proposed workforce would comprise 80 per cent women and 20 per cent men. On 7 April 2026, the Minister of Health and Family Welfare informed Parliament that the government was taking the necessary initiatives to recruit the health workers. The FY2026–27 Budget Speech, presented on 11 June 2026, formally incorporated the commitment into the government’s policy framework and stated that the process of recruiting an additional 100,000 health workers had commenced. It further specified that approximately 80 per cent of the recruits would be women and linked the programme to women’s and children’s healthcare, preventive healthcare, maternal and child health, and primary and community-level service delivery.
On 21 June 2026, the government indicated that recruitment would be completed in phases over three to four years. Reportedly, on 30 June 2026, the Health Services Division requested updated information on approved posts, serving personnel and vacancies from institutions under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The exercise was intended to identify staffing needs and determine the institutional placement of the proposed recruits.
Observation
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The recruitment of 100,000 health workers was included in the FY2026–27 Budget Speech, but no separately identifiable allocation was disclosed for recruiting, training, remunerating and deploying the proposed workforce. On 9 September 2026, it was reported that recruitment would be undertaken in three phases, with 45,700 workers targeted for recruitment in FY2026–27. It was also mentioned that DGHS and DGFP were also working to determine the grades, employment status and responsibilities of the proposed recruits.
State Minister for Health and Family Welfare stated that the proposed workforce is expected to support grassroots and preventive healthcare, including household-level health checks and basic screening for non-communicable diseases. However, it remains unclear how many of the 100,000 positions will constitute newly created posts and how many will be filled through existing vacancies. In September, authorities were separately instructed to urgently fill around 35,000 vacant field-level health posts under DGHS as part of the wider recruitment effort. However, greater clarity is still needed on the recruitment plan, particularly regarding the types of posts to be created for the proposed 100,000 health workers, their qualifications and training requirements, and their district-wise distribution.
Resources
- ১ লাখ স্বাস্থ্যকর্মী নিয়োগে শূন্য পদের তথ্য চেয়েছে সরকার
- ১ লাখ স্বাস্থ্যকর্মী নিয়োগের উদ্যোগ নেওয়া হচ্ছে : স্বাস্থ্যমন্ত্রী
- 80% of 1 lakh new healthcare workers to be women, says PM
- BNP's Election Manifesto 2026
- Gender Budget FY 2026-27
- Govt to hire 5,000 doctors, 1 lakh health staff for improved grassroots care
- Govt to launch door-to-door health screening program: Sakhawat
- Govt to recruit 100,000 health workers and 25,000 midwives
- National Budget Speech FY2026-27
- Plan to recruit 100,000 health workers in 3 phases: how many this year?