The much-needed kidney ward at Gopalganj’s 250-bed hospital has not been able to serve critical patients due to the lack of medical specialists.
The hospital authorities, despite several attempts, had failed to get a specialist doctor to run the ward, which can save money and time for hundreds of kidney patients in and around the district.
According to the hospital sources, the kidney ward was established about two years ago.
About Tk1.45 crore was spent to set up six dialysis machines, eight beds and other modern equipment. Two doctors, four nurses, one ward boy and one fourth class employee was also appointed after training them in Rangpur.
A team of doctors led by Dr Monimohal Saha, director of Khulna Sheikh Abu Naser Specialised Hospital, conducted a test run of the kidney ward and successfully completed dialysis of six patients.
However, one of the trained doctors was soon transferred and the other one lost interest. Since then, the operation of the kidney ward has been halted. Gopalganj health department said there were at least 2,000 kidney patients in the district. And among them more than 50 patients require regular dialysis.
Among the 11 districts, including Gopalganj, only the Sheikh Abu Naser Specialised Hospital in Khulna offers kidney dialysis.
Hence, the patients of these districts have no alternative but to travel to Khulna or Dhaka for treatment. This is not only costly but also time consuming and risky for the patients.
One such patient, Nasu Sikder, 50, general secretary of Gopalganj Clothes Traders Association, said he had been suffering kidney-related problems for the last two years.
“I have to go to Dhaka 3-4 times a month spending a lot of money and time. When the kidney ward started in our hospital, I was happy that I would no longer have to travel so far. But it is sad that the ward is not operational,” he said.
Dr SM Sirajul Islam, civil surgeon of Gopalganj, said: “We have written to the health secretary and the director general of health directorate several times for a specialist doctor. But we are yet to get any remedy.”
