Seventy percent outdoor patients were not happy with the physicians because of poor services while 78 percent indoor patients and 48 percent patients in emergency department expressed similar views.

Moreover, both the indoor and outdoor patients and their relatives had to pay 'extra' money besides ticket fee to get health care services at the hospital.

Forty percent outdoor patients said they had to pay Tk 14 excess charge for X-ray while each of 69 percent paid Tk 52 in excess for blood, stool and urine tests.

Similarly 60 percent indoor patients had to pay Tk 5 'extra' for x-ray and 50 percent had to pay Tk 12 in excess for blood, stool and urine tests.

These were revealed in a survey done by Sachetan Nagoarik Committee affiliated with Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB). The findings were made public at a view exchange meeting held at Satkhira Press Club in the town on Tuesday.

The report said the standard of health services at the hospital is very poor as most of the physicians are engaged in the private hospitals and clinics in the town.

Satkhira Sachetan Nagarik Committee convenor advocate AKM Shahidullah chaired the meeting while Dr Shushanta Kumar Ghosh presented the survey report at the meeting.

Satkhira Government College vice-principal Prof. Abdul Hamid, Public Prosecutor (PP) advocate Tapan Kumar Chakraborty, Prof. Pabitra Mohon Das, journalist Kalyan Bannerjee, TIB's Dipu Roy, Monzur E Khoda, Sadhan Kumar Das and Abdur Rahman also spoke. A number of teachers, journalists, students, NGO representatives and elite were present. The report covered 401 households in Sadar upazila.

The report further said the staff and nurses collected 'extra' money from the patients and their relatives.

Forty-five percent patients had to pay Tk 105 each 'as tips' to the nurses and staffs for bandages while 33 percent paid Tk 60 each 'as tips' for dressing.

Forty percent outdoor patients alleged they had to pay one taka more than the fixed rate for getting hospital tickets.

Ninety six percent outdoor patients had to wait 50 minutes on an average to meet the physicians. They also alleged medical reps visiting them during peak hour at the hospital.

The report alleged that 63 percent females who went to the hospital with pregnancy related issues were not provided proper medicare services.

Not only that 10 percent of them also faced misbehavior from the physicians, the report said.

More regrettable that the physicians advised 23 percent indoor patients to go to their private clinics while 33 percent outdoor patients were given similar advice.

Ninety-two percent outdoor patient had to purchase medicine from the outside medicine shops while 96 percent indoor patients also had to buy medicine from outside, the report said.

Majority of the patients also complained of unclean toilets and beds at the hospital.

The Satkhira Sachetan Nagarik Committee came up with some suggestions to overcome the situation.

These include steps to stop transaction without receipt, clean bathrooms and the patients' rooms twice a day, bar the medical representatives from visiting the physicians on duty, make a list of fees required to get health services, increase bed, medicine supply, infrastructure opportunities and modern equipment, expand healthcare facilities at local levels and introduce monitoring systems so that physicians become more dutiful.