Most of the community clinics in seven upazilas of Patuakhali are in a dilapidated state and in dire need of renovation.
According to sources at Patuakhali Civil Surgeon's Office, 230 clinics were established in 2011 with one-story building for each.
Of these -- 48 in Baufal upazila, 46 in Patuakhali Sadar upazila, 44 in Galachipa, 37 in Kalapara, 21 in Mirzaganj, 19 in Dasmina and 15 in Dumki -- 184 are in a poor state and are thereby disrupting healthcare services at grassroots.
At least 108 of the clinics need new buildings while 76 need repairs and 46 are in good condition, said Ashok Kumar Halder, deputy assistant engineer of Patuakhali Health and Engineering Department, who is responsible for the maintenance of these clinics.
At present, 19 community clinics are undergoing renovation works in the district.
In Badarpur community clinic in Patuakhali Sadar upazila, plaster of the walls and ceiling is crumbling while water seeping into the clinic through leaking roof after rains, damaging documents and medicines.
Lipi Akhter, a service provider at the clinic, said they have to work with an umbrella during rains and major accidents can happen at any time due to the dilapidated state of the building.
Birajla Community Clinic of the same upazila was also found in a similar state.
"The building is unusable as beams are exposed and rusty, while floor moldings have been removed. We are working here amid risk. I have reported the matter many times to the higher authorities but no measures have been taken yet to this end," said Arifur Rahman, a service provider of the clinic and general secretary of Community Clinic Service Providers' Association (Patuakhali unit).
Meanwhile, 229 service providers working at the clinics have not received their salaries for four months since June.
Amid increase in the prices of essentials, they are facing immense hardships to bear their family expenses and continue their services.
"We joined in 2011 on the scale of Tk 10,200 and in total we get a monthly salary of Tk 16,700. However, in the last 12 years, our salary has not increased by even one taka," said Faisal Hossain, president of the service providers' association.
"Although the employees working in the government and private sector get a five percent increase in salary from July every year, we were not fortunate enough to get that opportunity."
Dr Kabir Hasan, civil surgeon of Patuakhali, said community clinics are in a very fragile state due to lack of renovation for a long time. Employees have to work at risk of life and patients are also not safe there. The matter has been brought to the attention of higher authorities several times, he said.
The service providers' salaries are allocated directly from Dhaka to the upazila level under a scheme, so they are deprived of an annual increment in salary. However, shifting their jobs to the revenue sector may solve this issue," he added.
