Home ›› 27 Aug 2022 ›› Nation
Newly bought medical equipment worth Tk 5-6 crore for the extended building of Madaripur Sadar Hospital have remained unused for years due to the delay in hospital inauguration.
The construction of the extended building for Madaripur Sadar Hospital was completed in 2019 with a budget of Tk 30 crore, eyeing to provide all kinds of facilities to patients. Equipment including a CT scan machine, digital x-ray machine, ultrasonogram machine and a generator was bought for the new wing.
However, the hospital is yet to be inaugurated and due to the negligence of the authorities, the doors and the windows of the newly constructed building have fallen to pieces. The expensive equipment faces elemental damage as they’re kept in rooms with broken windows.
Residents of the town demand that the hospital to begin its operating soon as well as to bring those to book whose negligence is responsible for this delay.
A resident of the town, Md Tajul Matubbar said the locals are confused as to why the hospital has not yet been inaugurated even after two years. “Such expensive medical equipment like a CT scan machine can benefit many patients,” he said.
Local pharmacy owner Moshiur Rahman said the construction took about 3-4 years to be completed but the long-awaited hospital wing is still not being used.
“The damaged equipment will be re-tendered wasting public money. We expect the higher authorities of the government will look into it and take measurements to run the hospital quickly,” he said.
The local civil society leaders demand the hospital start operating soon as residents of the district are being deprived of medical services.
Madaripur Sachetan Nagarik Samaj Convener, Advocate Ibrahim Mia said, “Healthcare is one of the basic rights of a citizen. Many people cannot afford to go to private hospitals and depend on government-provided healthcare services.”
To that end, a full-fledged modern hospital has been a long-standing demand of the residents of Madaripur. But although the building was built, the hospital has been inoperational since the Public Works Department (PWD) handed it over to the authorities about two years and nine months ago.
“According to my knowledge, this hospital has a CT scan machine worth Tk 5-6 crores, but is not being used due to the lack of skilled technicians” he added.
Madaripur Civil Surgeon Dr Munir Ahmed Khan said the main obstacle in running the hospital is a lack of manpower. The current 100-bed Sadar Hospital is running with two-thirds of its required staff.
“The 100-bed hospital is already understaffed, it is more difficult to start running the extended wing. But the damaged equipment will be repaired and the extended wing will start operating with a limited 50-bed capacity service within the next two months,” he said.
According to hospital sources, 266 office staff including doctors, nurses and admin officers are required for the 250-bed hospital but there are currently only 133 people working there.
The residents of Madaripur district hope that the extended building of Madaripur Sadar Hospital will overcome the obstacles and start running soon.
