Water ambulance given driver after two years

The Netrakona district administration has finally given temporary appointment to a driver for driving the water ambulance of Khaliajuri Upazila Health Complex.

The water ambulance had been sitting idle at Khaliajuri Upazila Health Complex for more than two years. 

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, during her visit to Khaliajuri in 2017, pledged to arrange a water ambulance for the healthcare facility so that critical patients from flood-prone and low-lying areas in Khaliajuri upazila would be able to avail medical services during monsoon.

As promised, the ambulance was sent to the hospital the same year, under "Community Based Health Care Project", but it had remained stationary there as the government hospital had no scope to hire a driver for it, according to locals.

People of Khaliajuri -- an upazila dotted with several large water bodies or haors -- usually remain confined to their homes due to flooding during the monsoon months and boats become their only means of communications during those months.

Ataul Gani Osmani, health and family planning officer in Khaliajuri upazila, said a driver has been appointed for the ambulance on temporary basis as there is no official sanction for a driver post at the hospital.

The 31-bed hospital on an average has 20 inpatients and oftentimes, critical patients are sent out to hospitals in different districts for more advanced care.

With water all around, family members of patients suffer immensely to find a suitable transport to take their loved ones to a distant hospital, he also said.

Khaliajuri Upazila Nirbahi officer AHM Arifur Rahman said he never saw the ambulance operational during his two years of service in the upazila.

Thanks to the initiative of the district administration, which recently hired a driver for the ambulance, patients from any part of the upazila, especially in remote areas of Chakua, Gazipur and Krishnapur, will be able to avail the ambulance service for Tk 1,000.

The vessel has the capacity to provide oxygen support and carry necessary medical personnel along with the patient, he added.

Contacted, Netrakona Civil Surgeon Tajul Islam Khan, however, claimed that the ambulance had been in operation on various occasions under special arrangement.

He also said that a letter has already been sent to the authorities concerned, seeking the creation of a permanent driver post for the water ambulance.

Nazim Uddin, former chairman of Krishnapur Union Parishad, said the upazila headquarters is 16 kilometres away from Krishnapur and it is extremely difficult to transport critical patients to a hospital, especially during the monsoon.

"It would be a huge respite for the impoverished residents of haor areas that lack most basic services and amenities."

While talking to this correspondent, Netrakona Deputy Commissioner Kazi Md Abdur Rahman assured that the ambulance would not be left idle for a single day from now on. "I have already asked the upazila administration to monitor its operation regularly."