High Commissioner at International Nurses Day Celebration

In May of this year, Benoît-Pierre Laramée, High Commissioner of Canada to Bangladesh, visited IUBAT for an International Nurses Day celebration.  

Mr. Laramée addressed the crowd and in his remarks he stated, “We must recognize the utmost value of nurses. They are essential to quality healthcare and the closest professionals to the patients. Canada is providing 20 million dollars to improve nursing and other care in Bangladesh, and we are also proud to support institutional partnerships like the nursing training partnerships between Canadian universities and Bangladesh’s IUBAT. Nurses can lead the way in making Bangladesh healthier.”

In his presentation, the High Commissioner spoke of his own familial ties to the profession – his son is also studying to become a nurse, a fact that inspired many of the IUBAT Nursing students.

For pictures and comments, please visit the High Commission of Canada to Bangladesh’s Facebook page here.

Latest Graduates Pass RN Examination

In early March, seven IUBAT graduates wrote and passed the licensing exam held by the Bangladesh Nursing Council. In the photo they are (L to R) Aakriti Koirala, Samir Chandra Das (Dr. Karen Lund) Tahmina Chowdhury, Kanika Islam, Seeta Ghimire and Sailesh Bhandari (not shown: Ariful Haque Tutul). The graduates can only write the BNC exam after four years of study at IUBAT, which culminate in comprehensive exams and a defence of their research thesis.

Now, as Sailesh writes, “I am waiting for the BNC License number and keeping myself open to opportunities which could bring my nursing knowledge and skills into great use.”

Congratulations to IUBAT’s latest nursing graduates. We welcome you to the nursing profession and look forward to hearing about your future work leading the transformation of health care.

Graduate Attributes Success to IUBAT Training

One of the rewards of being involved in the Bangladesh Health Project is watching the progress of the students and subsequently hearing about their post-graduation success.  We recently received such correspondence from a former graduate, Saphalta.

Saphalta currently holds the title of Campus Chief at Lahan Sagarmatha Educational Academy, in Lahan, Nepal.  In her role of Campus Chief, it is her responsibility to plan and manage the curricula and academic activities of the 3-year vocational training programs, called Proficiency Learning Certificate programs.  Additionally, as Campus Chief is a management position, she also supervises and evaluates the staff in their roles.  

She writes: “It has been a while since I have written, but I always keep my experiences with IUBAT close.  The knowledge and skills I learned during my training have guided me each day, and I am proud to be an IUBAT Nursing graduate.

Today, a team from the Nepal Nursing Council (NNC) audited Lahan Sagarmatha Educational Academy, and they are pleasantly surprised with the management.  They complimented my contributions to the success of the school, and remarked that my name, Saphalta, also means success.  They inquired about my education, and had guessed that I had studied in a very good environment and received very good guidance.

I am really very happy to hear all these things from NNC board members.  There is a common perception that nurses who trained in Nepal are more skilled than ones in neighbouring countries, but the board members said that they are seeing equal or even better skills in those who study abroad!

One year ago, a team from the Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT) came to our college for an inspection.  The CTEVT is a national autonomous body for technical and vocational education regulation.  Their inspection revealed our college to have the second highest ranking in our Eastern region!  Thus, I am very proud of the progress that our school has made.”

I would like to thank you and all the nursing faculties of IUBAT for all of my training and experiences.”

Thank you for sharing your successes with us, Saphalta, and we are grateful that you have found your experiences at IUBAT to be instrumental in the various skills you have mastered in your distinguished position.  We wish you the best of luck in the future, and hope to see you back one day at IUBAT.