The diarrhoea unit of the 250-bed general hospital in the district is in deplorable condition, with patients specially children facing unbearable sufferings these days.
The scorching heat, plus lack of accommodation and rolling fans add to the sufferings of diarrhoea patients.
Sources said the number of patients admitting to the hospital was much more that the infirmary could actually accommodate.
The incoming patients were forced to be squeezed in the only four-bed diarrhoea unit which had eight beds earlier before half of the derelict ward was declared abandoned.
To meet the pressure, the hospital authorities have set up some new beds in the veranda, besides allowing 2-3 child diarrhoea patients in one bed.
The stink from toilets permeates the diarrhoea ward, thus affecting patients and their attendants.
The imam of Gopalganj Ansar Battalion Mosque, Abu Zafar, and the mother of a child patient, Mim, from Chandra Digholia Village under Sadar upazila of the district, said the diarrhoea unit always felt as hot as fire.
An absence of electric fans and proper accommodation rubbed salt to their wounds, they said, adding that they always felt restless inside the ward.
Doctor Amrita Lal Biswas said the number of diarrhoea patients was on the rise due to high temperature and water problem in this season.
The physicians and the nurses were seemingly fainting while attending to the patients, he said.
Amrita claimed that they were all prompt to provide the patients with treatment.
The district Civil Surgeon, Dr Sirajul Islam, admitted the sorry state of diarrhoea ward.
He said: “We have already taken measures to face patients because diarrhoea breaks out in this season.”
Measures would be taken in no time to address the problems surrounding the diarrhoea unit, added the civil surgeon.
