Ladies Without Lamps: Nurses in Bangladesh

Abstract

In this article, I explore the experiences and concerns of Bangladeshi nurses. I have based this on a larger ethnographic study that was conducted in a ward of a government teaching hospital in Bangladesh. The study shows how the values and norms of Bangladeshi society have shaped the life of Bangladeshi nurses, that they do scarcely any nursing work, and that they suffer from various negative social images. I argue, through this article, that the role, image, and concerns of Bangladeshi nurses have changed dramatically from the ideal image of nursing, and are dissimilar from the ways nursing is practiced in many other parts of the world.