In 1970, a 50-bed hospital started its journey at Muniganj for the people of nine upazilas of the district which was upgraded to a100-bed one in 1992 considering the needs of locals.
But there has been no initiative since then to fill the designated posts of doctors and the 100-bed hospital keeps providing services with the 50-bed hospital’s human resources, endangering the lives of patients.
Sources at the hospital said just 13 doctors have been appointed against 24 stipulated ones, while the 11 other posts have been lying vacant since its opening. On top of that, two doctors have been on “leave” from the very next day after joining it in 2017 and 2018 respectively without permission from the authorities concerned.
Marzina Begum, a patient of the hospital, said she came here for the treatment of her eyes, but she did not get any service from it for lack of any specialist doctor.
Many patients of different ages said they often have to go beyond the district to receive proper treatment due to specialist doctor crisis at the hospital, which makes healthcare very expensive for them.
Mashiur Rahman, Residential Medical Officer (RMO) of Bagerhat Sadar Hospital, said senior consultant posts at the Department of Orthopaedics, Department of Gynaecology, Department of Surgery, Department of Ophthalmology, Department of Anaesthesia and the consultant post of Department of Neonatal, Department of Radiology, doctor’s post at the Department of Pathology and three medical officers are vacant.
“The number of patients at the hospital is increasing day by day, though there’s a crisis of doctors and staff,” Mashiur added.
According to the sources, five posts of nurse, four each of class three and class four staff are also vacant.
“Dr Kamrun Sattar joined the hospital on June 9, 2018 as a senior consultant at the Department of Gynaecology while Dr Manowar Hossain on November 5, 2017as a junior consultant at the Department of Anaesthesia, but they are absent from their duties without permission of the authorities from the day after joining the hospital,” said Civil Surgeon Dr JKM Shamsuzzaman.
“Departmental action will be taken against the two,” he said, adding that 13 doctors out of 24 are working at the hospital while two are on leave with permission and three without permission, including the two consultants.
He further said around 150-160 patients are currently admitted to the hospital and they are naturally not getting proper treatment due to the staff crisis, endangering their lives and wellbeing.