TANGAIL — Thousands of patients in Tangail’s Nagarpur upazila are being denied adequate care because of shortages of doctors and staff at the upazila health complex, which was upgraded from 31 to 50 beds but is still operating with the staff of a 31-bed facility.
The shortage of doctors and staff is severe, and sub-health centers and union health centers in the upazila are in the same condition, hospital officials said.
The Health and Family Welfare Ministry approved the upgrade from 31 beds to 50 beds on April 21, 2014, hospital sources said. The 50-bed facility is supposed to have 18 medical officers but has 11, of whom five are on deputation elsewhere. As a result, only six medical officers are providing services. Of 10 consultant positions, four are filled. No junior consultants are working in anesthesia, surgery, cardiology, ophthalmology, dermatology and venereology, or ear, nose and throat.
Critically ill patients arriving at the upazila health complex are being deprived of necessary care due to the lack of doctors and are being sent to the district headquarters and elsewhere for advanced treatment, sources said.
Both posts of cashier, accountant and office-assistant-cum-computer-operator in the administrative branch are vacant, the sources said. Only one of four office support staff (MLSS) positions is filled. Two nurse positions and one cleaner position are also vacant. The complex is still running tests with an old analog X-ray machine in an age of modern technology.
Local residents said the hospital had itself become a patient with key positions including doctors, cashiers, accountants and nurses vacant. With the doctor shortage, patients were being forced to private clinics at extra cost and sometimes received improper treatment, they said. A visit to the hospital showed overflowing crowds of patients, with long lines at the outpatient department and just five doctors struggling to serve hundreds.
Upazila Health Officer Dr. Mohammad Hafizur Rahman told Jugantor that staff were doing their best within the constraints. “If the necessary manpower and a digital X-ray machine are ensured, quality care can be provided,” he said. He said the hospital’s user fee in March was 99,970 taka and had risen to 213,415 taka in July.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report