A couple of months ago, Dhanful Begum, a long-time asthma patient, had a sudden attack at her home in Dahagram of Lalmonirhat's Patgram upazila. Unfortunately, she had run out of inhaler and her condition deteriorated fast.

Worried sick, her two sons looked for a transport to take her to a hospital. But they did not find one in that remote area even after an hour.

The woman, in her late 60s, died a little later.

Her sons were trying to take her to Patgram Upazila Health Complex, which was 16 kilometres far, even though Dahagram-Angorpota 10-bed Hospital was minutes away from their home.

It's hard to find a doctor at the government hospital in Dahagram. The authorities have also transferred most of the equipment to another hospital, saying the number of patients is always “quite low” there.

Locals, however, don't say so.

“I had gone to Dahagram hospital looking for an ambulance. But it was not available,” Shamsul Islam, one of the sons of Dhanful, told The Daily Star. “What's the use of a hospital on your doorstep, if it stays like this?”

The case of Dhanful was not an isolated one. Lives of many other patients could have been saved had the hospital functioned properly.

Take the example of Rezia Begum of nearby Sarderpara village.

A couple of months back, the 45-year-old critically injured herself slipping on a wet floor. She was collecting water from a tube-well. Finding Dahagram hospital closed, her husband Mosharaf Hossain tried to take her to the Patgram Upazila Health Complex.

She, however, died on the way in a rickshaw van.

The emergency unit of any government hospital is supposed to stay open round the clock.

Another woman, 19-year-old Shahnaz Begum, suffered the same fate.

On April 21, she gave birth to a baby in her home in Golpurtari village with the help of a local midwife. However, her condition started to worsen immediately. She too died on way to the Patgram hospital.

Some 15,000 residents of Dahagram and Angarpota no longer receive treatment from the hospital, which once was equipped with modern machines.

They go to the hospitals in Patgram, Lalmonirhat and even in Rangpur.

“Many patients, especially pregnant women, have died on the way to other hospitals as the Dahagram hospital hardly has any use,” Dahagram Union Parishad Chairman Kamal Hossain Prodhan said.

The hospital, established in 1995, was later turned into a modern one with a well-equipped operation theatre, ultrasound machine, modern X-ray machines, and a high-powered generator for uninterrupted power supply.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the facilities on October 19, 2011. Prior to it, four medical officers, two of them for emergency healthcare, seven nurses and required number of staff were appointed for smooth operation of the hospital.

With that, the local's long-cherished demand for a hospital with both outdoor and indoor services was fulfilled and they stopped going to Patgram, Lalmonirhat and Rangpur for treatment.

“People were very happy. But their happiness was short lived. Unfortunately, doctors stopped coming to the hospital within a month of the inauguration,” lamented Abdus Samad, 68, of Bangerbari near Dahagram.

Abdul Jabbar, a cook of the hospital, dispenses medicines to patients in the absence of a pharmacist. The photos were taken recently. Photo: Star

Two of the doctors stopped coming to the remote hospital within a month of the inauguration programme. Later, the doctors got themselves transferred to other hospitals using their political influence, according to hospital sources. This newspaper could not verify the claim.

Later, Dr Noor Arefin Kollol joined the hospital. However, he too is quite irregular there, said sources.

Over a month ago, our Lalmonirhat correspondent visited the hospital from 10:00am to 2:00pm for two consecutive days. He saw no doctors there.

The hospital sources said Noor lives in Rangpur city and practices at various clinics, including one owned by him, in the city's Dhap area.

Contacted, Noor admitted that he does not go to the hospital “every day”.

Asked why he lives in Rangpur even though there were accommodation facilities for doctors at the government hospital, he said, “There is hardly any patient at Dahagram hospital and I can't practice properly if I don't have enough patients.”

During the visit at the hospital, the correspondent, however, saw many patients collecting free medicines from the medicine point. They went there mainly with complaints of fever and stomach pain.

Contacted, Upazila Health and Family Planning Officer Golam Mawla said the government stopped paying salaries to the doctor for the last six months because of his absence from work.

At the medicine point, Sub-Assistant Community Medical Officer Zillur Rahman was seen prescribing medicines to patients. A man, who was actually the cook at the hospital, was giving away medicines to the patients. The pharmacist was absent.

The ambulance, generator, X-ray machine, operation theatre along with other equipment and furniture were taken to Patgram Upazila Health Complex.

“The hospital, which remains locked most of the time, seems to be a ghost house at night,” said Dildar Hossain, who lives in Angarpota village.

“The prime minister inaugurated the hospital so that we can avail healthcare service easily, but her initiative went in vain due to absence of doctors,” said Afzal Hossain of Dahagram.

The scenario at the hospital was pretty much the same, hospital sources told the correspondents yesterday.

At least 20 letters were sent to the director general of the health directorate, seeking departmental action against the doctors for their unauthorised absence, Ahsan Ali, the immediate-past civil surgeon in the district, told The Daily Star, adding that the sorry state of the hospital also came up prominently in different health directorate meetings.

Dr Amiruzzaman, who has replaced Ahsan recently, said, “A good number of letters were sent to the health ministry and health directorate, requesting it to make the hospital a fully-fledged one.”

The DG of the directorate issued a posting order and asked a medical officer to join the Dahagram hospital by May 11. But he hasn't joined, he told The Daily Star yesterday.

“The ministry has assured us that the hospital would become a fully-fledged one very soon,” he added.