Nilphamari 250-bed hospital yet to be operational

The 250-bed General Hospital in Nilphamari is struggling due to housing crisis. The first 50-bed hospital in Nilphamari was built in 1975 on an area of seven and a half acres. Then it is upgraded to 100-250 beds.

In June 2011, the Public Works Department made an administrative allocation of Tk 30 crore and 50 lakh for the construction of an eight-storey building for the General Hospital. However, six stories were constructed due to a deficit of Tk 20 lakh from the allocated amount. As a result, the setting up of cabins, beds, Intensive care units (ICU) and high flow nasal cannula is being hampered.

According to the district health department, an eight-storey building with 60 cabins is to be constructed. But the building was not built according to the design. In addition, there is a manpower crisis, which is going on for a long period of time. Locals are asking, what is the point of building a hospital, if it’s not operational.

Kalpana Rani Das, senior supervisor of the hospital, said the 250-bed hospital would alleviate the bed crisis. Various patients including newborns are being treated on the floor at the moment. This problem will not exist when the new building becomes ready. She also claimed the quality of service will also increase.

The assistant director of the hospital Mezbahur Hasan Chowdhury said, there are 290 posts sanctioned in the 250-bed hospital. As of now, 135 are employed while there are still 155 vacancies.

There are 48 first class vacancies. Among them 9 are senior consultants and 11 are junior consultants. There are 3 RMO, RP, RS (Registrar, Assistant Registrar, EMO) and there are 18 Assistant Surgeons. In addition, 8 posts of medical technicians, including in radiography and cardiography units, have been vacant for a long time.

The hospital does not also have an Intensive Care Unit (ICU). However, the health department says that despite everything being fine, patients are being deprived of ICU facilities due to lack of anesthesist and ICU doctors. At present, the building is being used for corona vaccination program.

Sources said that the five-bed chest unit has been closed since the establishment of the hospital due to manpower crisis. Equipments worth crores of taka are coming of no use.

Asked if the 250-bed hospital has ICU’s he said there is no ICU facility here. The precondition for its establishment is that according to the number of beds, each bed must have a nurse, cardiac monitor, central oxygen line, ventilation system, anesthesia, medical officer and consultant. None of this is available here. As a result people are being deprived of modern medical services.

Nilphamari Civil Surgeon Md. Jahangir Kabir said, the work of launching central oxygen supply system in the hospital is 95 percent complete. Now all that is left is to connect the bed. He hopes that once this is done we will be able to give patients high flow nasal cannula.

Meanwhile, the executive engineer of the Public Works Department, Touhiduzzaman said the Public Works Department had given an administrative allocation of Tk 30 crore 50 lakh for the eight-storey building but later approved it for Tk 30 crore 30 lakh. As a result, the eight-storey building was constructed up to six stories. At present, new allocations have been made after application by the health department. 

Work on the remaining two floors, including 60 cabins, will begin soon, he added.