A 15-bed private clinic and a poultry farm are operating in the same building, located few metres away from the office of police super, in the Gournadi municipality town of Barisal placing the lives of the patients at risk.
Dr Mustafizur Rahman, who was a medical officer at the Ujirpur upazila health complex, is running the clinic, Alhaj Dr Mustafizur Rahman Diabetic Hospital, as well as the poultry farm in his four-storeyed building.
Mustafiz resides on the first floor of the hospital building and a dispensary, a drug store and a pathological lab are situated on the ground floor.
On second floor, there are seats and rooms for patients, an operation theatre and a post-operative room.
On the third floor, there is a poultry farm, which has been running for the last two-years, but the district administration has yet to take any measures against its owner. During a recent visit to the clinic, this correspondent was unable to meet Dr Mustafizur, but his son Arafat Rahman acknowledged that his father is both a doctor and a surgeon at the hospital.
An employee of the clinic, Jui, 20, said she was serving there as a receptionist and a nurse, but she has not taken any nursing training.
Some patients said it was intolerable at clinic because of the bad odour that comes from the poultry farm.
A patient, seeking anonymity, said people did not know that a poultry farm was situated in the building before getting admission there, adding, “Once a patient is admitted to the clinic, he/she does not have any option other than to stay at the clinic.”
Students and teachers of a nearby madrasa said they usually bathe in the Palardi River, but many of the students now have skin diseases since the waste from the clinic are disposed of in the river.
This condition is endangering the lives of patients, especially pregnant mothers and their neonatal babies, said Asaduzzaman Ripon, president of the Gournadi Press Club.
In a phone conversation, Dr Mustafifiz claimed that he was operating the hospital in accordance with governmental rules and regulations.
He claimed that three of his family members are doctors and the poulty farm existed there before the hospital was started.
“The poultry farm will be permanently closed soon,” he said.
Sukumar Biswas, director of the Barisal divisional environment office and Dr ATM Mizanur Rahman, district civil surgeon, said the opening of both a hospital and a poultry farm in the same building by a doctor, is beyond imagination.
They are, however, sure that it is running without clearance and approval from the authorities concerned and said legal steps will soon be taken against the responsible person.
