The Kushakhali union health and family welfare centre in Chandraganj, a new upazila carved out of Lakshmipur Sadar, has been effectively closed for about 12 years. Jungle has grown up around the centre at Shantirhat Bazar and the building is now home to snakes and insects, Barta24 reports.
Without repairs the building has cracked and walls and plaster are falling, and local people fear an accident at any time. The main gate has been locked for years, with no permanent doctor, nurse or regular medicines, so people must travel to Lakshmipur Sadar Hospital or to hospitals in neighbouring Noakhali, and emergency patients suffer.
Local resident Tofayel Ahmed says there is no doctor, nurse or medicine; a doctor now comes one day a week, and women who come for treatment are turned away. Another resident, Mahbubur Rahman, says the walls are collapsing and snakes live on the building.
Nazmul Hasan, deputy director of the Department of Family Planning in Lakshmipur, says many centres built in the 1980s are now dilapidated. Although this one was closed for a long time, a medical officer has now been posted and is seeing patients, a nurse will join soon and medicines will be supplied. New buildings are planned for eight centres in the district, including a three-storey building at Kushakhali, he said.
Residents want a new building, a doctor and nurse in post and a regular supply of medicines so the centre can run fully.
Source: Barta24
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