Medicare for 1.35 lakh cops in a shambles

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Health services at all seven police hospitals in the country are in jeopardy as 380 staff members of the hospitals are not receiving their salaries for the last seven months due to bureaucratic tangles.

The hospital staff were initially recruited in 2004 under a project titled ‘Modernisation of Police Hospitals in Bangladesh’ with an aim to improve health services for 1.35 lakh police personnel in the country.

However, the quality of services at these hospitals are deteriorating fast as the morale of the hospital staff are waning due to the non-payment of their salaries.

The primary cause behind the non-payment of salaries is that the hospital workers’ salaries were not brought under the revenue budget following the completion of the project, said sources in the hospitals.

A number of unpaid 3rd or 4th class employees of the hospitals are resorting to unethical means including selling the medicines of the hospital on the black market.

A doctor on duty at one of the hospitals told The Daily Star, “They come to us and request for prescription medicine for various diseases. I recently came to know that they sell the medicines [received from the hospital] to stores outside.”

The police hospitals modernisation project was launched on July 1, 1997 with the implementation deadline of June 30, 2005.

So far, 194 out of 574 staff members have already left the police hospitals for jobs at other hospitals and many other skilled staff are looking for similar opportunities, worsening the quality of services even further, the sources added.

Shortage of manpower is forcing the police hospitals to refuse providing inpatient care to the family members of the police personnel. The family members currently receive only outpatient services at these hospitals.

The workforce of the hospitals under the project consisted of 80 percent fresh recruits and 20 percent on deputation from Directorate of Health.

Contrary to the profile of the project, these staff members at the police hospitals are yet to receive confirmation of their permanent employment and their salaries are yet to be incorporated into the national revenue budget although the project has been completed a few years ago.

A meeting of the Ecnec (Executive Committee of the National Economic Council) on December 31 last year even decided that the manpower of the project would be transferred into the revenue budget upon following existing rules and regulations.

A secretary committee meeting held on July 9, 2007 also recommended bringing the project under the national revenue budget while the ‘Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Department’ report of Planning Commission recommended transferring it into revenue budget soon after the project duration came to its end.

Under the modernisation of the police hospitals project, the central police hospital at Rajarbagh was upgraded to 250 beds while Chittagong, Rajshahi, Khulna, Barisal and Sylhet divisional police hospitals and Sarda Police Academy Hospital were upgraded to 75 beds each from 30 beds.

A staff member at one of the police hospitals said, “Since the completion of the project in 2005, we had been receiving our salaries every three months from ‘block allotment’ of home ministry, but we didn’t receive any salary during the last seven months.”

When even the middleclass are barely making ends meet due to the skyrocketing prices of essentials these days, the low-income hospital staff are not even getting their salaries, added the staff.

Mobarak Hossain, a Tk 4,700-salaried ward boy at Central Police Hospital at Rajarbagh Police Line in the capital, said, “I’ve been borrowing money from relatives to support my family as I didn’t get paid in the last seven months. I heard that one of my co-workers had to manage money by selling cattle at his home village.”

“I can’t quit the job now ’cause I was told that our salaries will be paid soon,” added Mobarak.

Dr Khandaker ATM Farhad Hossain, the project director and superintendent of police (hospitals), said, “We have informed the police headquarters of the issue and process is underway to transfer the manpower into the national revenue budget.”

Sources at divisional police hospitals said besides being bogged down by staff shortage, the police hospitals do not have the capacity to provide specialised care to the patients and the patients needing such care are often sent to the Central Police Hospital in Dhaka.

However, during a visit to the Central Police Hospital, this correspondent was astounded at the discovery that the hospital does not have any casualty ward — a ward that is a must for a hazardous profession like the police’s. The hospital does not have a trauma centre and any intensive care unit either, found out this correspondent.

Furthermore, the pathology department of the hospital does not have any pathologist. The correspondent was told that two pathologists had joined the hospital on deputation during the last three months and they have returned to their original jobs.

The hospital also lacks postoperative care unit, cardiology and urology wards.

Nuruzzaman, a member of Special Armed Force of the police, was injured on duty in February 2007 and was transferred to the Central Police Hospital.

Speaking about his ordeal, Nuruzzaman said, “As there is not enough equipment and skilled manpower in this hospital, I was referred to National Institute of Traumatology & Orthopaedic Rehabilitation where I was admitted for one and a half months.”

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