Healthcare services at the 250-bed Bhola General Hospital are being severely disrupted due to an acute shortage of doctors, nurses, and staff.
Despite advancements in medical technology, patients continue to suffer due to poor management and staff shortages at the govt hospital.
Every day, a large number of patients are admitted with various illnesses, putting immense pressure on the limited workforce. As a result, hospital authorities are struggling to provide adequate care, and patients are facing significant hardship.
There have been numerous accuse that patients are often referred to hospitals in Barishal or Dhaka instead of receiving proper treatment locally.
Hospital sources said that although the facility was upgraded from 100 beds to 250 beds in 2019, staffing levels have not increased accordingly. As a result, residents of the district are being deprived of proper medical services.
Out of 379 approved posts including doctors, nurses, and staff-267 positions remain vacant. These include posts for senior consultants, junior consultants, medical officers, anesthetists, radiologists, pathologists, and emergency medical officers. Several key nursing and support staff positions are also unfilled.
A similar shortage of doctors exists in upazila health complex and clinics under the Civil Surgeon's office.
On average, around 2,000 patients receive treatment daily at the hospital, including both indoor and outdoor services. Of them, about 1,500 patients are treated in the outpatient department.
Due to overcrowding, especially in the 25-bed children ward, four to five times more patients are admitted than capacity, forcing many children to receive treatment on floors or shared beds.
This situation is increasing the risk of infections such as fever, cough, cold, pneumonia, typhoid, measles, and diarrhea.
Patients and their families have expressed dissatisfaction over receiving treatment in such unhealthy conditions and demanded urgent measures to address the staffing crisis.
Hospital Superintendent Dr. Md. Tayeebur Rahman said it has become extremely difficult to run the hospital with limited manpower. Emergency services cannot be paused even for a second, yet there is not enough staff.
He added that repeated requests have been sent to the authority for recruitment, but no effective solution has been implemented yet.
Civil Surgeon Dr. Rafiqul Islam said multiple application have been made to the ministry for doctors, and although some have been posted, many are unwilling to join hospitals in Bhola.
Local residents have urged the government to take immediate steps to appoint necessary medical staff to reduce suffering and ensure proper healthcare services.
