Saidpur Upazila Town has yet to go to the government hospital

Unlike all other state-run Upazila health complexes in the country, the one in Saidpur Upazila Town only serves outpatients as it never had the capacity to admit inpatients.

As a result, the Saidpur Upazila Health Complex – housed in a British-era building in the heart of the bustling commercial city – only dispenses medication and provides medical services that do not require hospitalization.

If it were equipped to provide full-fledged stationary services, it could be an immense relief for city dwellers, especially if the Covid-19 pandemic wreaks havoc across the country, locals said.

Without setting up like a complete hospital, a large part of the funds made available for the health complex often remains unused.

Although the government has successfully built a modern 50-bed hospital in every Upazila in the country, Saidpur residents have so far been denied such facilities at their headquarters in Upazila.

The city dwellers have to travel to the outskirts of the city, to the Kundol area, where a 100-bed hospital was built long ago, mainly for the city’s working class, which houses the largest railway workshop in the country. The hospital mainly treats various common diseases such as tuberculosis, diarrhea, scabies, filaria and leprosy.

Locals said that while Kundol Hospital is unable to service the entire population of Saidpur City, its existence near the city is delaying the establishment of a modern hospital in the city.

Abu Md Alimul Bashar, Upazila Health and Family Planning Officer in Saidpur, said the Saidpur Upazila Health Complex now serves as a vaccination center under the EPI program and as a monitoring center for various community clinics.

After caring for the few outpatients who visit the health complex, most of the hospital staff – consisting of five doctors, seven nurses and several employees – usually find time every day to look after the Kundol Hospital on deputation, he added .

Mazharul Anwar Shamim, Unity Secretary in Saidpur of Shushashoner Jonno Nagorik (Shujon), said, “A hospital in an Upazila is the lifeline of all medical services, and its construction is a mandatory government program. Otherwise the general public will be at a disadvantage in being able to care for additional patients even during the pandemic. “

Zahangir Kabir, Nilphamari’s civil surgeon, said the 100-bed hospital is well equipped to tackle the Covid-19 situation, said a project proposal to set up a 50-bed health complex for Saidpur Upazila had been submitted.

Senior officials recently visited the proposed site in Hazarihat Village and construction would begin soon after the proposal is approved, he also said.