Necessity of medical research

Bangladesh is lagging behind in research, in general, and medical research, in particular. Against this background, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at a recent programme expressed her dismay regarding the lack of adequate research in the country’s medical sector.

According to an agency report carried in this newspaper, she emphatically called upon the people concerned to concentrate on research in the country's medical sector, saying excellence is not achieved without research.

The premier urged the country's specialist physicians to spend more time on research alongside attending patients as research is very much urgent.

Bangladesh is a country of some 170 million. And a significant portion of its population lives below the poverty line. Access to even basic healthcare is limited in some areas. The attitude of a vast number of people towards disease, despite living in the 21st century, remains antiquated. There exists a huge information void. On the other hand, much of the public is unaware of the disease's severity. Research into types and patterns of disease is, therefore, becoming all the more important.

According to the World Health Organisation and the Harvard School of Public Health, non-communicable diseases, particularly neurological disorders, contribute significantly to the healthcare burden worldwide. The figures are measured in disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) i.e. lost years of healthy life due to earlier-than-expected death. The most notable contributors are strokes and Alzheimer’s disease. These result in a tremendous loss of human capital. There is a wide scope for research in this field.

The lack of trained faculty members to supervise, and the scarcity of institutions where basic science research can be conducted further underscores the impediments to knowledge generation.

The training of medical professionals and the delivery of healthcare is also highly variable. This disparity creates a multi-tiered system. A standardised model of healthcare is absent. Only a handful of institutions emphasise scientific inquiry alongside medical training.

The role of information technology in healthcare management can’t be stressed enough. That IT helps in the proper dissemination of information, assessing outcomes and improving efficiency is an understatement. Despite an official drive to upgrade educational institutions in IT, the vast majority remains compartmentalised.

Communication, even within the various departments of the same institution is negligible. Clinicians work in isolation, without any input to or from the basic sciences faculty. The little research is being conducted, thereby, lacks focus. IT can, indeed, help improve that inter- and intra-institutional cross-talk.

It is public institutions that handle the heavy patient load. That untapped information, if proper medical records are maintained, would lead to large-scale multi-institutional studies. The answers to such questions as prevalence, risk factors, aetiology, disease severity, and prognoses would begin to emerge. This would improve the quality of care across institutions

Pursuing scientific research shouldn’t be optional; instead, it should be obligatory as part of medical training. Only then can we tackle the major scientific questions that clinicians face today. Through research, we will be able to identify areas where resources must be allocated, equitably. After all, Bangladesh remains poor in resources; research, therefore, is not a privilege, it is a necessity.

TV and print media remain underutilised in Bangladesh for health-related information. Following the international example, our media outlets should launch health and science sections to disseminate know­ledge and redress misconceptions about the disease. This will bridge the gap that exists between public understanding of the disease and that of healthcare professionals.

It is said that a problem identified is a problem solved. It is high time we acknowledged that there is a dire need for research both at the level of the clinical and basic sciences.