Ramshackle community clinics risky to patients
Seventeen out of 37 community clinics in Sakhipur upazila have turned risky as they have not been renovated for several years.
The clinic buildings at Mohanandapur and Jadavpur have been abandoned after their walls collapsed a couple of years ago. The authorities are providing health care services to children and women in rented rooms, said Mizanur Rahman, head assistant of Sakhipur Upazila Health Complex.
The buildings of the community clinics turned risky within a few years as they were constructed with cheap materials, he said.
Health care activities are going on in the vulnerable buildings of 15 other clinics in spite of the risk of accidents, he said.
Cracks have developed on the walls and chunks of plaster fall off in the clinic buildings as they have not been repaired for several years, he added.
The community clinics have no electricity connection, so patients and health workers suffer during hot weather, Mizanur said.
The laptops provided for the clinics are unused or out of order. The health providers keep the laptops at their homes due to lack of security at the clinics, he said.
Moreover, the heads of the tube-wells at most of the clinics have been stolen and the bathrooms of most of the clinics are unusable, he added.
Meanwhile, a community health care provider (CHCP), a health worker, and a family welfare assistant provide primary health care services to children and pregnant women at the clinics from 9:00am to 3:00pm. The clinics provide services and advice to the women, especially before and after pregnancy, so that they can get necessary health care and advice near their homes.
Pregnant Mariam Begum visits Protima Bonki community clinic for getting heath care services, but is afraid to enter the dilapidated building.
Mohanandapur clinic CHCP Mohammad Ariful Islam said the building of the clinic was abandoned as patients did not want to sit inside it, fearing that it would collapse. Health services have been provided to the patients at a nearby rented room for the last few months, he said.
Atiapara clinic CHCP Abu Hanif said water leaks through the roof of the dilapidated clinic building during rain.
Upazila Health and Family Planning Officer Dr Belayet Hossain said they have made a list of the risky community clinic buildings in the upazila and sent it to the District Health Engineering Department (HED).
The community clinic buildings at Jadavpur, Berbari, Protima Bonki and Shaliar Baid will have to be re-constructed and the 13 others need repairing, he said.
"We hope to start the work very soon," he added.
District HED Executive Engineer Golam Mahbub said a list of the most vulnerable clinic buildings for repair or re-construction will be prepared and sent to the health directorate.
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