National Institute of Ear, Nose and Throat, Dhaka, Bangladesh

The National Institute of Ear, Nose and Throat situated in Tejgaon, Dhaka, Bangladesh is a specialized hospital and training center for Ear, Nose and Throat diseases. Set up by The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare the hospital is built at a cost of Tk620m. 

The Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina formally inaugurated the institute in June 19, 2013. Construction of the new 12-storied building began in 2009.

When fully functional the 250-bed specialized institute would have an international standard audio-vestibular lab, sleep lab and voice study lab. It would act as an important center for training professionals in treating ENT disorders. The current director of the hospital is Prof. Dr. Mohammad Abdullah. 

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Research on Digital Divide among Medical Students

The Worldwide internet population is over 1.59 billion with the highest percentage of internet users in Asia (41.2%), followed by Europe (24.6%) and North America (15.7%). The major users in Asia are in populace nations like China (45.3%) and India (12.3%). Despite that internet use still remains to be uneven between nations. Percentage of population using Internet is still much higher in the USA (74.7%) than China (22.4%) and India (7.4%).

"Digital divide" is the division between those who have access to Information and communication technology (ICT) (“haves”) and are using it effectively, and those who do not (“have-nots”). The “have-nots” are deprived of jobs, improved healthcare and enhanced education which is a lost opportunity towards improving their lives.  

People in a particular country are more receptive to internet than people in other countries. It is not only due to computers and internet connections. Factors like gender, ethnicity, age, personal characteristics, socio-cultural status, socio-economic settings, location (national status, urban-rural), prior computing experience and physical disability may exacerbate this disparity. 

ICT is revolutionizing medical science by bringing in new opportunities and challenges. It is having an impact on the way students are learning and teachers are teaching. However some surveys have reported that medical students use computers mainly for non-academic purposes, like writing letters or entertainment (playing games, watching movies). 

In a study carried out on Chinese students studying in China and British students studying in the UK, Graff et al. suggested that individuals differed towards computer-based learning and Internet use. The differences were mainly due to nationality and cognitive learning style. It is thus important to understand the factors that might account for the digital divide across cultures and countries. In our study we have demonstrated that given the same infrastructure and social setting ICT use to some extent is affected by factors like gender, cultural and national status.