Naogaon hospital upgraded, services downgraded
A seriously injured man receiving intravenous saline lying on the floor beside a staircase while his relatives wait for doctors at Naogaon Sadar Hospital recently.Photo: STAR
Treatment seekers are being deprived of health care facilities as the 100-bed Naogaon Sadar Hospital is beset with various problems including shortage of doctors and nurses, accommodation problem and inadequate supply of medicine. Fifty-six of the 150 posts at the hospital have been lying vacant for long, hospital sources said. “We are running the 100-bed hospital with the facilities of a 50-bed one. The authorities concerned were informed about the problems earlier," said Civil Surgeon Dr Md Asheque Hossain. The hospital was upgraded to a 100-bed one from 50-bed several years ago but it has seen hardly any improvement in facilities for over 26 lakh people in the district. The hospital serves 150 indoor patients on an average daily against the arrangement for 100, sources said. The post of resident medical officer is vacant while only 23 doctors are now serving against 42 posts, sources in the civil surgeon's office said. Only two senior consultants against the posts of 10, four junior consultants against 11 posts and three medical officers against 17 posts are working at the hospital. Only 12 nurses are now working at the hospital although there are 35 posts, hospital sources said. Accommodation problem forces a good number of patients to stay on the floor or leave the hospital before completion of treatment. Md Kazam Sarker, 70, of Uttargram village under Mohadevpur upazila in the district, was brought to the hospital for treatment in an unconscious state on March 7 evening but he was kept on the floor due to accommodation problem. Doctors attended the patient after 14 hours of his admission to the hospital, alleged his relatives. Supply of medicine at the hospital is too inadequate for the large number of patients. Sometimes patients' attendants are seen to do cleaning work as there is also acute shortage of sweepers.
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