Multiple problems including shortage of medicine, equipment, funding and inadequate professionals have rendered the lone Rajshahi University medical centre dysfunctional, limiting its services to the university students and teachers.
At present, 22 out of 36 posts of doctors and four out of six technologists have been lying vacant at the medical centre for a long time, hampering its services badly, officials said.
In addition, lack of three out of six posts of emergency medical officers and four out of six posts of nurses has forced the medical authorities to suspend its 鈥榓fternoon services鈥�, causing immense suffering to the students.
Students alleged that they were mostly given pain killers or referred to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital while most of the doctors and technologists of the medical centre allegedly were not found in their respective chambers during office time.
Saiful Islam, a third-year student of Islamic history and culture department, said that he went to the medical centre past week with breathing problems but the on-duty doctor prescribed two tablets of cold-related diseases without listening to his problem properly.
According to officials, over forty medical tests including electrocardiogram, X-rays, and ultrasonography are available in the medical centre and most of these tests are provided to the students free and a few are at a nominal cost.
Mafruha Siddiqa Lipi, chief medical officer of the university medical centre, said that the main obstacle to providing services was due to lack of necessary manpower.
She said that the previous university authorities took a move in 2020 for recruiting 13 doctors and other necessary technologists and staff at the medical centre but the appointment got stuck due to some invisible reasons.
鈥榃henever we approached the university administration in this regard, they only gave us assurances, but no visible effort was made to resolve the issue,鈥� she added.
RU vice-chancellor professor Saleh Hasan Naqib said that they were trying to solve the existing problems to make the university medical centre fully operational.
鈥榃e have started a process to recruit some doctors and staff so that emergency services can be ensured at the medical center,鈥� he said, hoping that a massive change in providing health services at the medical centre will be noticed about a month later.
The RU authorities, meanwhile, have recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Popular Diagnostic Centre Ltd to get some discount for its teachers, officials, employees, and students on various medical tests.
