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Three hospitals remain inactive even after 15 years of construction


Published : 27 Jul 2021 12:46 AM

All the infrastructural facilities, operation theaters, and residential buildings for the officers and employees are there, only medical services are unavailable.

This has been the scenario of three 20-bed hospital constructed about 15 years ago in Bogura. Due to manpower crisis and lack of allocation, the hospitals have still remained in an inoperative condition. 

As a result, thousands of people in the area are deprived of medical services. However, outpatient services are provided in the hospitals informed the health department. 

The locals, including the people's representatives, have demanded necessary action to make the hospitals fully operational.

It is learned that the foundation stone of a 20-bed hospital was laid in 2002 in Bogura’s Nandigram. The construction work was completed and the hospital was inaugurated in 2006. Although all the equipment was provided then, the hospital has not opened yet. The situation is similar in other two hospitals built at about the same time in the district.

According to the District office of the Department of Health Engineering, the total cost of the construction of Nandigram Hospital was almost Tk 3.27 crore. 

Around the same time, the construction work of a 20-bed hospital at Santahar in Adamdighi upazila of Bogura started. Initially the construction cost of this hospital in Santahar was estimated at about Tk 3.33 crore. The contractor of the project went missing without completing the construction work and it was later renovated. The construction cost of Aliarhat Hospital in Shibganj Upazila was Tk 4.32 crore. 

However, these hospitals built at a huge cost have not been launched yet and manpower crisis has been blamed as the reason behind the situation.

Meanwhile, as the hospitals have not been opened for a long time, the furniture including doors and windows are in dilapidated condition. Although there is an operation theater, there is no equipment. Patient beds or other furniture are also missing. There are various items lying in the storeroom. 

According to the locals, even though partial services are provided in the outpatient department there, no patients are admitted in the hospitals and the critically ill patients have to be taken to the Upazila Health Complex or to Bogura town. Locals also complained that Santahar Hospital was totally inactive even though services were available in the external department at Aliarhat in Nandigram and Shibganj. 

People of the area hoped that the concerned authorities will take necessary steps to ensure availability of medical services to thousands of people by opening the 20-bed hospitals constructed at a cost of around Tk 11 crore, soon.

Shibganj Upazila Parishad Chairman Firoz Ahmed Riju said Shibganj Upazila has more than 3 lakh voters and 5 lakh residents. There is only one hospital for the medical care of such a large number of people. 

Aliarhat 20-bed hospital, which was built a long time ago in Shibganj upazila with a large population, needs to be started soon by appointing doctors and nurses for the benefit of the locals, he opined.

Bogura Civil Surgeon Dr Gausul Azim Chowdhury said that those three 20-bed hospitals are partially operational and services are being provided in the outpatient department. Higher authorities have already been informed for manpower and allocation to make it fully operational.