Sorry state of a chest clinic

Nur Alom stood in front of the squalid tin-roof building and wondered if he had made a mistake, travelling all the way from his village in Bagerhat to the Chest Disease Clinic in Khulna city.

The 62-year-old farmer from Rampal had a persistent cough for a year and he came to the clinic in the hope of receiving modern treatment.

But the peeling paint and crumbling plaster of the clinic sank his heart even before he stepped inside. The front yard covered in coarse, overgrown grass makes it seem like the facility has been abandoned and allowed to slide into utter decrepitude.

"There was no doctor to see me. An employee collected phlegm for tests. And a nurse asked the employee to give me some medicines," Nur Alom told this correspondent after his brief visit to the clinic last week.

"I had to spend over Tk 600 for the trip and I think the money has been wasted," he added.

Officials said the building was built in 1962.

According to an employee who has been working here for over 17 years, an X-ray machine has been lying idle and collecting dust for decades.

"As far as I know, the machine was never used because it is not meant to be operated under a tin roof," said the employee, requesting anonymity.

On rainy days, the floor and walls get wet because of the leaky roof. But the dankness can be felt even when it does not rain for weeks, he added.

Other employees said they only have to depend on sputum tests to detect tuberculosis because the X-ray machine is unusable.

"It is often not possible to detect TB by a sputum test. An X-ray test is much-needed," said an employee.

An estimated 300 patients visit the facility every month.

Even though it is a chest clinic, there is no pulmonologist at the facility. A medical officer is the only doctor at the clinic. But the hospital employees say the doctor often remains absent.

Contacted, Medical Officer Tanzina Mostafa said, "Generally, I attend patients. If I am in a meeting, or on leave, my assistant sees the patients and prescribes medicines after consulting me over the phone or a video call."

The post of a junior consultant has remained vacant for the past six years. In 2017, a physician was ordered to join the clinic. But the consultant never went there, according to the officials.

The facility has 12 employees and five vacant posts.

Dilip Kumar Das, the only cleaner, said, "There is no running water in the building. I have to carry water in a bucket from a nearby pond every day."

Suzat Ahmed, civil surgeon of Khulna, said, "We are aware of the issues facing the clinic. The problem is, physicians do not want to work there. They somehow manage to get our transfer orders cancelled."

He added that a proposal has been sent to the ministry for constructing a new building and recruitment of physicians.

Khurshid Alam, director of the National TB Control Program, said  steps will be taken to improve the facility.

There are 64 specialised clinics and hospitals across the country under the national programme.