Patients at risk in dilapidated Barisal General Hospital

Inpatients and staff of Barisal General Hospital in the city are amid a great risk of accidents at any moment due to the dilapidated condition of the century-old hospital building.

It has not seen any renovation since it was built in 1912 by public donations despite several appeals made by the hospital authority to the Public Works Department (PWD) over the last two years.

The hospital consisting of four buildings -- administrative, emergency, general ward and diarrhoea section -- is used as a 100-bed general unit of Sher-E-Bangla Medical College Hospital, said Dr Delwar Hossain, resident medical officer of the general hospital.

Due to the vulnerable condition of the building, the female medicine ward of the diarrhoea section has already been transferred to the general ward, constructed a decade ago, said Delwar.

During a visit to the hospital, this correspondent found that cracks have developed, plasters have fallen off, and rods were sticking out of the ceiling in many rooms of the administrative building, emergency building, and diarrhoea section.

During the monsoon, rainwater trickling down through the cracks multiplies the sufferings of patients and staff and hampers medical services, said hospital sources.

On Wednesday, a patient and a staff were injured being hit by a large chunk of plaster that fell off the ceiling in the X-ray room of the emergency building.

When contacted, Zakir Hossain, executive engineer of PWD's Barisal office, acknowledged the appeals by the hospital authority and said the Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) is responsible for the maintenance of all hospitals containing up to 250 beds, so PWD could not do anything.

FM Murshid, executive engineer of DPHE, Barisal, however, said that as Barisal General Hospital is a part of the 500-bed Sher-E-Bangla Medical College Hospital, PWD is responsible for its maintenance.