A story of scarcity and negligence

Due to scarcity of trained professionals, unavailability of equipment and overwhelming treatment costs, cancer care is still inaccessible to hundreds of patients in Khulna and surrounding southern districts.

The Cancer Institute of Khulna Medical College Hospital (KMCH) is the sole destination for low-income families in Khulna and Barishal.

Cancer patients in Bangladesh usually receive treatment in three ways: radiotherapy, chemotherapy and surgery.

At present, there is only one doctor for 1,000 patients who receive treatment at KMCH. The highly technical work of giving chemotherapy and radiotherapy is overseen by seven nurses, leaving a huge question mark on their ability to perform the task.

Although there is one radiotherapy machine at the hospital, it is not operational.

As a result, the treatment for terminally ill patients has come to a standstill. Dr Mukitul Huda, the head of the department, works only three days a week. He is the only doctor at the institute as his only colleague Happy Saha has recently been transferred to Dhaka.

There are practically no doctors in the unit on the remaining days. As a result, cancer patients in the region are in great distress.

Regarding the transfer of a doctor, Director of KMCH Md Rabiul Hasan said, "I have nothing to say about the government decision, but it would have been better for us if she stayed.".

A linear accelerator or radiotherapy machine was brought to KMCH in July 2012 to provide better services for cancer treatment. The machine has been lying there almost ever since.

According to KMCH, Tk 7 crore was sought in the 2015-16 financial year for making the machine operational and constructing related infrastructure. But the call for investment at the facility has fallen on deaf years, claimed hospital authorities.

Mukitul Huda, associate professor and in charge of the radiotherapy department, said, "Since its inception, the unit has been lagging due to lack of necessary manpower and medical equipment."

Patients have to go through a painful ordeal to receive treatment and care due to overcrowding and lack of essential services.

At KMCH, hundreds of patients and their attendants were seen standing in long queues to buy tickets for treatment. Many patients, who were too weak to stand, were seen lying on the dirty floor as all the chairs were occupied.

For months, Shuli Begum shuttled between her hometown Nazirpur of Pirojpur district and Khulna several times for radiotherapy at the cancer institute.

Every time, the 33-year-old had to return home without the therapy she badly needed.

Taking into account the transport expenses, this also meant a waste of money, the last thing a low-income family of a cancer patient needs.

Her family has already spent a huge amount of money on her treatment as she received eight chemos, so there is no room for such "system loss", she added.

The last time she visited the hospital was on June 9. On the same day, several other cancer patients were refused immediate radiotherapy as the hospital struggled to cope with the huge rush of patients.

"There is no other service in the cancer unit other than buying medicines from outside and giving chemotherapy during the day," said another patient Mahmudul Hasan.

He also alleged that he had to wait for hours with a fragile body to access the facilities and often, the doctors refused to see him even after the agonisingly long hours.

"Moreover, I have to conduct many tests and most of these tests are not available in this hospital. In private clinics, the cost of the tests is almost double. I had to spend Tk 11,800 per chemo at private facilities," he added.

When the lone cancer hospital in Khulna was established on October 18, 2014, it had only outdoor facilities. Five months later, it got a new one-storey building in March 2015.

But it is nowhere near enough because the number of patients seeking treatment there is on the rise. On average, 50-60 patients seek appointments at KMCH for cancer treatment every day.

During the visit, this correspondent also saw long queues of patients and relatives in front of the main gate. The lone radiotherapy machine was boxed beside the gate.

Inside the one-storey building, the correspondent observed the same chaotic situation.

There were only 10 beds in the chemotherapy room, shared by two patients.

Latifa Khatun, senior staff nurse of the unit, said seven nurses are working relentlessly to provide maximum service despite insufficient allocation.

"Earlier, eight patients were given chemotherapy three days a week. Due to the increase of patients, chemotherapy is now given five days a week, sometimes even six days."

"Previously chemo was given in one shift but now chemo is being given to about 24 patients in three shifts a day," she added.

In 2018, some 3,600 patients were treated in the cancer unit of KMCH while 2,259 patients took chemotherapy. The number of patients increased to 5,404 in 2019, while 2, 998 received chemo.

In 2022, 3,427 patients received treatment up to May while 1,572 patients took chemo.

Besides, around 1,296 patients came for regular check-ups during this time.