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Sirajganj Shaheed M Monsur Ali Medical College Hospital has long been failing its service seekers, as much of its modern machines lie unpacked, while its intensive care unit has not been unlocked ever since it was set up five years ago.

Key equipment, including C-arms, heart-lung machines, and LASIK devices, are rarely used owing to a shortage of qualified physicians and skilled staff. 

The hospital’s outdoor department, opened in 2021, never had a dedicated doctor or assistant registrar, forcing indoor doctors to manage both departments.

According to the authorities of the 500-bed hospital, among 75 posts of assistant registrars, only 59 are currently filled, while of 173 nursing positions, 165 are filled. The hospital has 17 medical technicians and needs 10 more.

Three-fourths of the 59 posts of Class Two, Three and Four staff are vacant with staff only in 14 of these posts, while there is a shortage of 128 cleaning staff, including sweepers. 

Suffering amid an acute shortage of skilled hands, hospital director ATM Nuruzzaman told ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· on Monday, ‘Although modern equipment is available, there is hardly any skilled manpower to operate the machines. ICU support is urgent for heart and stroke patients. Ventilator, heart-lung machine, cath lab and several other machines remain mostly idle’. 

Saying that the outpatient department was also run by indoor doctors, the director also said, ‘73 specialist and registrar positions dedicated to outpatient services remain vacant from the start. Since we don’t have the skilled hands to operate many essential machines, we have to refer complex patients to elsewhere,’ he added.

Indoor physicians are operating ultrasonography, CT scan and kidney dialysis equipment, he said, adding that these machines were supposed to be run by skilled technicians.

Senior ICU staff nurse Meem Khatun, who was found to work at the surgery word, said, ‘Even five years after the 12-bed ICU unit was set up, it hasn’t yet been opened to patients. I am now working in the surgery ward’.

Since its establishment in 2014 with an investment of Tk 900 crore, the public hospital has expectedly been witnessing a daily rise in the number of patients.

But a persistent lack of skilled technicians and qualified physicians continues to plague the facility, hampering treatment amid endless suffering to the patients.

Hasna Banu, 74, a resident of Hajibarrack neighborhood in Sirajganj district town, said that her son had to take her to three hospitals after she suffered strokes twice last week.

‘Since neither Sirajganj General Hospital nor Monsur Ali Hospital had ventilator support, we were forced to go to Enayetpur Khwaja Yunus Hospital at our own expense,’ she said.

Nahid Islam, a resident of Dhanbandhi area, also in Sirajganj town, said his elderly father, a kidney and stroke patient admitted to the hospital on August 28, had to go to another hospital for dialysis despite the facility having two dialysis machines.

Associate professor Nazrul Islam, head of the ophthalmology department, voiced frustration over the situation.

‘What is the use of expensive machines when there is no manpower or air-conditioning? When electricity fails, there is no generator backup. I have personally bought Instant Power Supply backup to manage emergencies,’ said the physician.

Nurses also lacked proper Ophthalmic Paramedic Training, the eye specialist also said.

Associate professor Zulfiqar Hossain, head of orthopedics, said that the hospital while had some advanced machines, lacked other machines needed to use those advanced machines.

‘Even though there is a modern C-arm machine, there was no fracture table or other instruments to operate it. We had to buy some instruments at our own expense to conduct surgeries,’ he stated. 

A proposal requesting 73 additional doctors for outdoor services was sent to the ministry that remained pending, officials said. 

A visit on September 14 found the hospital had 418 admitted patients.