The road to the main hospital gate of the capital's Mugda Medical College and Hospital has been in a chronic state of disrepair for the past one and a half years. The government hospital serves the mass population of Mugda, Basabo, Kamalapur, Khilgaon, and adjacent areas. The hospital provides vital support to dengue patients every year and provides affordable healthcare to the people of this part of Dhaka. Intending to be of service to locals, the hospital has had two gates from the beginning. One opens to the Atish Dipankar Road (better known as Kamalapur Bishwaroad) and the other is built on Mugdapara's side to give quick access to locals seeking treatment. The same road also provides passage to Ideal School and College's Mugda Branch and a chapter of Anjuman Mafidul Islam.

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Timely road repairs are vitally needed

Some number of potholes or fissures are tolerable, and even expected, in many roads of Dhaka South City Corporation. Despite incessant public demand, media coverage, and the risk that these roads pose they remain unrepaired. But the condition of this road in particular is beyond those usual metrics. To the common spectator, it's hard to imagine that this road was once carpeted with asphalt. The upper layer of pitch has been eroded by stagnant rainwater accumulated due to poor drainage and heavy use has left only a layer of bricks for ambulances and vehicles to ply on. The narrow sidewalk only allows a single file of pedestrians and has segments missing, besides bringing into view the gutters beneath. The drainage system is so poor, that even a moderate amount of rainfall converts the roadway into a waterway. Cars drive through with their headlights submerged and rickshaws wobble whilst peddling through the uneven surface below water. A tire may easily fall into one of the deep potholes, tilting the rickshaw sideways and drenching the passengers in sewer water. Such injuries are not uncommon for attendants of patients admitted here or students of the medical college. Even in summer, the sewer water persists, inundating parts of the road.

One might think 'What about the other gate? That one must be better!' Yes, the other gate is in better shape and so is its connecting road. But that gate is closed off after 2.30 pm and opened again the next day at 7.30 am. The gate can't be kept open due to a shortage of security personnel. During the hours in between, the only way to get entry into the hospital is that one gate. Ambulances come in with critical patients and dead bodies are carried out from Anjuman Mafidul Islam crossing this road. Post operative patients with raw sutures and bandages return home using this road which may cause the sutures to come apart or may cause bleeding from the jerking movement. Schoolkids living in Mugda have to cross this road on a daily basis. It's a point of regular suffering to the locals and to those who've come to seek treatment in this government hospital.

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We must be bold with health sector reforms

Access to healthcare doesn't only mean access to medical equipment and health professionals. Infrastructure development and maintenance is also a part of it. A hospital that people can't access or have to risk their lives in the process of doing so is of little use. To maintain the productivity and quality of healthcare being provided at Mugda Medical College and Hospital, quick steps should be taken to repair the road to a usable condition. Budget needs to be allocated for its maintenance, which may be tagged onto the hospital's infrastructure maintenance bill. The city corporation has to coordinate with the Directorate General of Health Services to look into such instances within the city corporation boundaries at least, for this is where government services are out of the public's reach due to crumbling infrastructure.