Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoH&FW) has approved 21 new Community Paramedic Training Institutes (CPTIs) in Bangladesh.
Currently, there are only 23 CPTIs producing CPs all over the country. To ensure the growth and development of Community Paramedic (CP) profession, there has been an unmet need of more CPTIs. Addressing the issue, ASTHA had been actively facilitating to break a long-term deadlock since 2014 regarding the new CPTI registration. ASTHA’s relentless advocacy and influencing efforts in collaboration with CPTI alliance has finally resulted in the approval of 21 CPTIs. This will lead to 60% increase of CP graduates by 2023.
The national official number of CPTIs is now 44 which is a great milestone not only for the project but also for the healthcare sector of Bangladesh.
Swisscontact’s project ASTHA facilitates the development and growth of Community Paramedics to support Bangladesh government in reducing the acute shortage of skilled healthcare resources and the persistent growth of unemployment.
It is financed by Novartis, the Evi Diethelm Winteler Stiftung, the Laguna Foundation, the Leopold Bachmann Stiftung, among other donors. As part of the Swisscontact Development Programme, it is co-financed by SDC (Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, Federal Department of Foreign Affairs FDFA).