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Pabna Mental Hospital suffers from manpower crisis


Bangladeshpost
Published : 18 Sep 2019 08:55 PM | Updated : 06 Oct 2021 01:54 AM

Kanu Sanyal, Regional Correspondent

Services at the country’s lone mental hospital at Hemayetpur in Pabna is being hampered severely due to manpower crisis as the 500-bed hospital is being administered by seven doctors only. At present, the hospital where patients throng from all across the country is providing services with five are medical officers and two associate professors only.

Director of the hospital Dr Tanmay Bishwas said if a halfway house can be built besides increasing number of doctors, pressure on the hospital staffs would have been released a lot. “More doctors must be appointed to provide quality health care service,” he added. However, during a recent visit, this correspondent witnessed that doctors and nurses of the hospital, despite the severe workforce crisis, are administering the daily activities in such a cordial manner that longtime patients act like the member of their families.

Several patients of the hospital told Bangladesh Post that nurses have become relatives to the patients serving them for a long time. They alleged to this correspondent that around 20 patients are not being able to return home even after recovery due to negligence of their family members. Some guardians even provided wrong addresses to avoid further responsibility. Some guardians are even reluctant to receive the body of the patient after death.

Some of the recovered patients have been living inside the boundary of the hospital for 20 to 25 years. Sayeed Hossain, son of one Abul Hashem from Dhaka’s Moghbazar area, was admitted to the hospital on Jull 22, 1996. During the long 23 years, his relatives never came to visit him at the hospital; though he recovered from since long.

Qazi Akramul Zaman, son of one Qazi Golam Gaus from Pallabi area under Mirpur in Dhaka and Doly Khatun from Momenabad area under Pabna are also facing the same situation. They are not being able to return to home even after recovery due to negligence of their family members.

They said, “We want to go home, but nobody comes to take us.” Senior Staff Nurse of the Hospital Nasima Khatun said, “Due to serving the patients year after year, they have become our relatives. We also consider them as our family members. They abide by our guidelines wholeheartedly.”

Delwar Hossain, an administrative official of the hospital, said sometimes it has been found that the addresses provided by guardians are fake. They do this due to financial, social and property-related reasons. Director Dr Tanmay Prokash Biswas also confirmed that a total of 20 patents are currently stranded at the hospital, despite successfully undergoing treatment.

“The hospital authority is doing its best to support the patients, but when their relatives refuse to take them home, it becomes a problem,” he added. The hospital is supporting these patients regardless of the costs associated with it, as these people have nowhere else to go. Dr Shafqat wahid, an assistant professor of Pabna Mental Hospital, and also a consultant, told the Dhaka Tribune: “Mental patients must be treated in a sincere and dignified way. Initiatives should be taken to raise awareness over the issue.”

Pabna Mental Hospital was established in Sheetla House area of Pabna on 1957, as a treatment centre for mental patients. Two years later in 1959, the hospital was relocated to a 111.25 acres of area in Hemayetpur. The hospital started its journey with six beds, which was later gradually increased to 500 beds.