After giving birth to twin boys by caesarean section at Mymensingh Medical College Hospital, Shiuli Akter had to buy every medicine she needed, the saline and even the gloves with her own money. She told Health Minister Sardar Md Sakhawat Hossain so when he made a surprise visit to the hospital on Saturday (24 October). The minister apologised and gave her Tk 1,000 to buy saline.
Shiuli, from Shikarikanda village in Sadar upazila, said she received no medicine from the government after admission. She was glad of the money, she said, but hopes the hospital's services improve and every patient gets proper treatment.
Earlier in the morning the minister visited the Phulpur and Tarakanda upazila health complexes and ordered a day's pay deducted from five doctors he found absent at Phulpur. At the medical college hospital he checked the doctors' digital and manual attendance records, spoke to patients in the maternity, dengue and measles wards, and looked at the food and the toilets.
He told reporters that many doctors were absent and that departmental action would follow once the duty rosters were checked, including against those who came late. The dengue ward's mosquito nets and conditions were relatively good, he said. Over unexpired butterflies, injections, syringes and cannulas found at the city corporation's dump outside the hospital, he asked the director for an inquiry report; Director Brigadier General Md Zakir Hossain said a committee would be formed.
The minister said steps would be taken within the coming week to fill the shortage of doctors and staff at Phulpur and at the medical college hospital. Phulpur and Tarakanda will become 151-bed hospitals with dialysis, physiotherapy and separate beds for mothers and children, and inpatient services will be started at Tarakanda.
No new illegal clinic will be approved within one kilometre of a government hospital, existing clinics' compliance and labour rooms will be monitored, and strict measures are being taken against touts, he said. The inquiry report on the 14 September lift fire in the hospital's new building has been submitted and will be acted on after review.
The report was filed by Prothom Alo's staff reporter in Mymensingh.
Photo: A ward at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital, Nahid Hossain / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0); representative image
Source: Prothom Alo
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