X-ray, ultrasound machines lie inoperative for months

The ultra-sonogram machine and the x-ray machine at Lalmonirhat Sadar Hospital have been inoperative for a long time, much to the sufferings of the patients.

Aklima Begum, 25, who was suffering from severe stomach pain, went to Lalmonirhat Sadar Hospital from Dharla River char Kharuya. Ultra sonogram test was essential for her, but she didn't get this facility in the hospital as the ultra-sonogram machine has been lying inoperative for the last six months.

Azizar Rahman from Teesta char village Kalmati needed x-ray of his broken hand, but he didn't get it in the hospital as the x-ray machine has been lying inoperative for the last 18 months. Both the patients had to go to a nearby clinic for getting their tests done, spending a lot of money.

Twenty-nine posts of doctors out of 40 have been lying vacant for a long time. Only 11 doctors, mostly junior consultants, are running the health care facilities in the hospital. Also, 33 of 110 posts for nurses, brothers, medical technologists and staffs are vacant.

Jahir Ahamed Khan, 64, a patient from Jumma par area in the town, said the hospital has become sick and needed treatment. "We the patients are not getting proper treatment in the hospital," he added.

Manowar Hossain, 55, an outdoor patient from Char Kulaghat village, said the people of the district mainly depended on the government hospitals. "The government declares that there are 100-percent healthcare facilities in the government hospitals, but we get only 10-percent facility because there are no doctors, no staff and no machines," he added.

"We are poor, we come from remote villages, so we depend on government hospitals for getting proper healthcare facilities, but we are not getting them," said Nurul Islam, 62, from Karnapur village in Lalmonirhat sadar. "We cannot go to clinics or private hospitals because of the cost," he added, demanding filling of all the posts of doctors and installation of necessary machines in the hospital.

Aynal Haque, the machine technologist in Lalmonirhat Sadar Hospital, said he is passing idle days as all the machines have become inoperative. Patients, especially poor patients from chars and remote villages, are suffering as they are not getting facilities, he added.

Admitting the problems, Dr Nuruzzaman Ahmed, the superintendent cum deputy director of the hospital, said he had written several times to the Rangpur Divisional Health Director seeking filling up of all the vacant posts, especially doctors' posts, but has not received any response as yet. "I have sent a letter to the chief technical manager of National Electro-Medical Engineering Workshops in Dhaka, asking them to repair the inoperative machines in the hospital, but I have not received a reply till now," he added.

The people of Lalmonirhat urged the authorities concerned to fill up the vacant posts and repair the machines immediately.