Osmaninagar hospital shut due to staff shortage

S A Shofiee, Sylhet :
The 50-bed Osmaninagar Upazila Health Complex in Sylhet, built at a cost of about Tk 27 crore, has been idle for a year and a half. Although the construction work of the building has been completed, government approval has not yet been received. As a result, about 2.5 lakh people of the upazila are being deprived of healthcare.

It is learned that Messrs. Poddar Enterprise and Rupali Construction completed the construction work at the end of 2023 and handed over the buildings to the Health Department. But although an application for approval was sent to the ministry in January 2024, it is still pending in the Ministry of Finance.

The health complex has 10 multi-storey buildings, which include the hospital building, dormitories for doctors and nurses. But full-fledged medical activities have not been started due to manpower shortage and administrative complications. Currently, only outdoor services are operating, and that too on a limited scale.
The health complex needs 9 doctors, but only 3 are working. Of them, 2 are working at Osmani Medical College Hospital in Sylhet. There is no fourth-class manpower, including nurses, midwives, ward boys, ayas, night guards.

Locals say that despite having a modern hospital in their area, they have to run to Sylhet city for treatment due to lack of approval and manpower—a distance of about 30 kilometers.
Osmaninagar Upazila Health Officer Dr. Mainul Ahsan said, “It is not possible to provide full medical services due to lack of administrative approval and manpower. The necessary documents have been sent to the ministry from the civil surgeon’s office. The matter is now under process at the finance ministry.”
Therefore, the upazila residents have demanded that the hospital’s full operations be started by appointing manpower quickly, subject to approval, and ensuring normal healthcare for the locals.