Children are being deprived of treatment due to a lack of doctors, nurses and other staff at the 25-bed Shishu Hospital in Jhenidah district town.

Sources in the civil surgeon's office said the hospital was built at a cost of Tk 3.81 crore on 3 acres of land, and was inaugurated on September 6, 2006. The posts of 31 employees including doctors and other staff were created on April 6, 2014.

While visiting the hospital on Saturday morning, this correspondent found that the two-storied building comprising 43 rooms is almost ruined due to a lack of care. Dust has filled all the rooms and the furniture is becoming damaged. Besides, AC machines, X-ray machines and other equipment lie idle.

Roksana Wajir, a sub-assistant community medical officer, works from 9:00am to noon. She only prescribes medicines, but no medicine is provided to patients. Besides, she is not a specialist. Around five patients arrive here every day. We are unable to properly treat the babies due to the lack of medicine and doctors, hospital sources said.

Soma Khatun, a mother, told this correspondent that she arrived at the hospital seeking treatment for her baby. She was given a prescription but no medicine was supplied, she added. 

Another mother, Salma Khatun, said she came to the hospital in the hope of better treatment for her baby but did not receive any treatment at all. Her baby is suffering from eye disease. 

Civil Surgeon Dr Abdus Salam of Jhenidah, said the Shishu Hospital was inaugurated in 2006, but no staff members have been appointed, adding that he forwarded a letter to the concerned office about the situation, but  has not received any reply.