Million deprived of healthcare in Koira
Khulna Bureau :
As there is still no full-fledged government hospital in Koira Sadar, the most disaster-prone upazila in the south of Bangladesh, nearly a million people have been deprived of healthcare for a long time.
Every day, sick patients have to travel to the Upazila Health Complex located in Jagir Mahal, Amadi Union of Koira, located 17 kilometers away from the upazila headquarters, or to the district city of Khulna for emergency treatment or specialized services.
Which has become a cause of extreme suffering for the common people in terms of both time and money. Even since most of the people of this township live below the poverty line, they fail to go to the district city for good treatment.
Although there is only one sub-health center for the Bedkashi-Koira area, there is no building, and the necessary equipment, medicines and doctors to serve patients are almost ineffective. In the past, this sub-health center in Sadar was run by a pharmacist.
After the fall of the August 5 government, when the pharmacist of this sub-health center was transferred, no new person joined that place.
The lockdown has been in place for several months, as a result, if patients need urgent treatment, they have to go to the health complex 17 kilometers away or to Paikgachha or Khulna Medical College Hospital 50-100 kilometers away. Due to inaccessible roads and river routes, the patient’s condition often becomes critical.
Meanwhile, although there are union health centers in the 5 unions of Koira, Bagali, Maheshwaripur, Maharajpur, Uttar Bedkashi, and Dakshin Bedkashi, it is limited to pens and books. There are no doctors and necessary furniture for health services. As a result, they have to migrate to distant hospitals in distress.
Locals say that in the upazila headquarters, where nearly a lakh people live, and people travel from Ananya Union to Upazila Headquarters, it is very important to have a 20-50-bed health complex.
According to the rules of the Department of Health, there should be one Upazila Health Complex in each upazila, and it does exist, but due to the distance, the common people are being deprived of services due to the fact that it is located in Amadi Union, which is 14 kilometers away from the upazila headquarters.
Rafiqul Islam, a resident of South Bedkashi, said, Koyra Sadar is 17 kilometers from our house and the distance to the Upazila Health Complex is 31 kilometers. But although there is a sub-health center in our union, there is no doctor there.
If a person falls ill, he has to come to the upazila headquarters by boat or trawler to get medical care. It takes 3-4 hours to reach the headquarters. Many times, people die due to lack of primary treatment.
Recently, Seema Rani, the daughter of a man named Ishwar Mali of Koyra village no. 6 in Koyra Sadar, died while being taken to a health complex 20 km away from her home after a normal delivery at her home due to heavy bleeding and poor physical condition.
M Anwar Hossain, convener of the Coast and Sundarbans Protection Movement Committee Koyra, said, before the establishment of the police station in Koyra Sadar, a 50-bed health complex was established in our place called Jagirmahal.
Currently, it is 17 km from the upazila sadar and 31 km from South Bedkashi. In such a situation, he strongly demanded the construction of a health complex in the upazila sadar to ensure health services for the people of the coast.