Sohrab Hossain

Patuakhali 250-bed General Hospital has long been struggling to provide adequate healthcare services to a growing number of patients due to a severe shortage of doctors.

Persistent rainfall, high tides and rough seas in recent times have intensified coastal erosion along Kuakata beach, threatening key public and religious establishments as well as the town’s coastal protection embankment.

A town hall built by Barguna Municipality to promote literary and cultural activities and host meetings and seminars has remained unfinished for eight years, despite crores of taka being spent on the project.

The theatre group Agun Mukha organised the performance with support from the District Shilpakala Academy. The play was staged in memory of noted late theatre personality and physician Fazlul Karim.

A key road in Barguna’s Amtali upazila has collapsed within a month of being renovated at a cost of more than Tk 8 crore.

Students of Char Karfarma Government Primary School in Galachipa upazila of Patuakhali have to swim across as many as five canals to attend classes, leaving many soaked by the time they reach school and some reluctant to attend.

Deep inside Sonarchar Wildlife Sanctuary, wild buffaloes move through coastal forest and swamp land on an island in the Bay of Bengal. But their numbers are shrinking fast, as poachers continue to target the animals despite repeated drives, arrests and criminal cases.

For Aker Ali Khan, 55, the peak hilsa season in the Tentulia river was supposed to be a time to earn enough to repay his debts and support his family for the rest of the year.