Chauddagram Health Complex in various crises

Chauddagram (Cumilla) Correspondent :

Chauddagram Upazila Health Complex is plagued by various crises. This service-providing institution has come to a standstill due to manpower and medical equipment shortage. There is also a housing shortage for doctors and employees. Cracks have appeared in the main building, plaster has fallen in various places. Security, polluted environment and the mischief of brokers are hampering normal healthcare.
The only health complex providing medical services to more than six lakh people in the upazila is currently itself immersed in crisis. This important health complex, which regularly brings injured and deceased patients who have been victims of accidents within 42 kilometers of the Dhaka-Chittagong highway, does not have junior consultants, surgery and orthopedic doctors. The X-ray machine is also not functional.
According to hospital sources, the main problem of the institution is the shortage of manpower, medical equipment and accommodation. Due to the shortage of manpower, various other problems have been created. As against the 5 posts of cleaner, there is currently only 1. As a result, doctors have to see patients in an unclean and damp environment. There is 1 person in 3 ward boy posts, 1 aide post is vacant, 1 in 2 cooks, 2 in 3 office assistants are missing. There are no junior technicians, storekeepers and cashiers. There is 1 post in 2 pharmacist posts.
There are no junior consultant surgery, ear nose and throat, orthopedics and ophthalmologists among the 24 doctors and 11 consultants. Although the salary is taken from here, orthopedics and physical medicine doctors are attached to Comilla Medical College Hospital. There are 30 nurse posts, but there are currently 9. There are 14 out of 84 health assistant posts at the field level.
The institution, which receives an average of 800 to 1,000 patients daily in the outpatient department, does not have ticket automation. This leads to long queues for patients, increasing suffering. There is no manpower in the ticket clerk. Out of the 3 security guard posts, 2 posts are vacant. As a result, drug addicts crowd inside the health complex in the evening.
Hospital sources also said that an average of 150 to 200 accident patients come every month. The 50-bed hospital has an average of 70-80 people in the ward every day. The male and female wards on the second floor do not have balconies, and additional patients are forced to be kept on the walkways. 7 to 800 patients come every month for fights. 3,800 to 4,000 patients come to the emergency department for medical care every month.
It can be seen from the ground that the health complex, located 7 feet below the highway, gets waterlogged even after a little rain. The ground floor of the building was almost submerged in last year’s flood. This destroyed medical equipment worth 7-8 crore taka, including dental machines and ticket automation. Doors and windows were broken. The X-ray machine damaged in the flood has not been found despite many attempts.
There is a pit for hospital waste management, but it is also inoperative. Garbage is dumped in holes behind the hospital. The polluted environment due to the broken sewage line, the constant burden of mosquitoes. Sometimes the municipal authorities carry out activities to control mosquitoes, but the Upazila Health Complex is deprived of this service.