Upazila Health Complex in Ishwardi is failing to provide proper healthcare to the patients from the upazila as many hospital staff are not being trained properly, though the number of beds has increased since 2011. The hospital also needs more medical equipment and transportation facilities badly.
Health complex sources said 27 of the total 163 posts in the hospital were vacant. Ten positions of specialist doctors and medical officers were empty. The posts of medicine, surgery, heart diseases, pediatrics, ear nose and throat and osteopathy specialists remained vacant in the hospital. Eight positions of nurses and ward boys are not occupied currently, and there is only one sweeper appointed in place of four. Moreover, no doctors were appointed for the emergency department.
The hospital also suffers from a lack of medical equipment. Hospital officials said a faulty X-ray machine is there for diagnoses and there is no operator to run the ultra-sonogram machine. An IPS is required immediately in the emergency unit, the officials added.
The ambulance of the hospital was registered only for carrying patients within Rajshahi division. As a result, it cannot be used for transferring patients to Dhaka for better treatment. Low-income patients suffer disproportionately because of it, as they have to rent ambulances from outside when required.
Dr Shaiqul Islam from the hospital said the 50 beds in the hospital remain occupied all the time, and the emergency department receives 350 patients on an average daily.
When contacted, the Director of the health complex Dr Amin Ahmed Khan said patients from the Ishwardi and its surrounding upazilas come to the hospital for treatment.
