People of Kamrabad union in Sarishabari upazila of Jamalpur have been deprived of healthcare services for lack of connecting road with the the community health clinic in Char Dharabarsha village.
Local sources said, even after 12 years of its establishment, no connecting road has been constructed. There is no access road. Medical services have been disrupted for 12 years due to the fact.
Although it is possible to travel in some way during the dry season, travel is not possible during the monsoon and floods. Most of the time, the only hope for the patients in this area is the banana tree raft. The locals have demanded that the clinic be provided with access roads and medical services.
This community health clinic was built in 2013 in Char Dharabarsha village of Kamrabad union of the upazila to ensure medical services for the local people. A local person named Hasmat Ali donated 800 acres of land for the clinic. After the construction work was completed at a cost of 2 million Taka with the funding of the Department of Health, the Char Dharabarsha Community Health Clinic was launched in June 2015 to provide treatment to the people of the village.
About 10,000 people from 4 nearby villages use the clinic. Due to the lack of roads, villagers who come to seek medical care have to get off the paved road and walk through the fields to the clinic. They have to hear people's abuse. Even if there is a little rain, they have to suffer greatly. During floods, they have to go to the clinic by boat or raft made of banana trees. Although primary healthcare and free medicines are available here, the people who come to seek healthcare have no end to the suffering due to the lack of roads. The health clinic is built in the middle of agricultural land and in a low-lying area about 300 meters away from the paved road, so medical services have been disrupted for 12 years due to the lack of access roads.
Aslam Sheikh, an old man from Dharabarsha village who came for treatment, expressed his anger and said, "The cost is more than the treatment for us. To go to the hospital, we have to walk through someone else's crop field. If the crop is damaged due to walking through the crop land, the landowner abuses us. Also, while going to the hospital, we have to climb high stairs which is not possible for us.”
Faruk Hossain who came for treatment, said, "We cannot travel to the community clinic because no one has given us land. We have to come to the hospital through someone else's field for treatment. Even though the government has built a hospital for us, we are not able to receive proper medical care due to the lack of a road. We are demanding a road on behalf of the local people to go to the clinic in order to ensure our health care."
CHCP Achmaul Hosna of Char Dharabarsha Community Health Clinic said, "As there is no road to the health clinic, it is difficult to travel to and from the office every day. People have to come down from the road to the clinic and then climb up the stairs. Once a patient comes to the clinic, they do not want to come again. Many times, there are quarrels with the landowners in front of the clinic regarding the movement of patients. It is important to build a road here."
Upazila Health and Family Planning Officer Dr Debashish Rajbangshi said, the clinic was set up there because the landowner of Char Dharabarsha Community Clinic donated land away from the road.
“I will talk to the concerned authorities, Upazila Executive Officer and the beneficiaries about the issue and make arrangements for the construction of a road. I hope it will be implemented very soon,” he also said.
