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A Tk114 crore divisional children’s hospital built in Khulna to provide advanced treatment to children in the southwest has yet to begin medical services, nearly two years after construction was completed.
The hospital was taken over by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) in June this year after prolonged complications delayed the handover. However, several important works remain unfinished, preventing the facility from becoming operational.
The government launched the project in 2019 and acquired 4.82 acres of land near Mayuri Residential Area along the Sonadanga-Bypass Link Road. A 10-storey hospital was initially planned, but a five-storey building was eventually constructed at a cost of around Tk62 crore through six tenders.
Construction was scheduled to finish in June 2023, but the project was extended by a year. Although the building was completed in 2024, disputes over the handover kept it unused for nearly two years.
Even after the handover, the hospital lacks a boundary wall and entrance gate. Some installed equipment and fittings have developed rust, while there is no ramp for moving patients or bodies.
Kamrul Hasan, executive engineer of Public Works Division-1, said the remaining works were supposed to be completed under a subsequent phase of the project. Proposals for a boundary wall, gate and residential quarters for doctors and nurses were submitted under the fifth operational plan, but were not approved.
Health officials said the building was accepted on the understanding that the Public Works Department would complete the remaining works. They are planning to initially launch outpatient services and have already sought doctors and other staff.
Dr SM Shahriar, assistant director of the Khulna Divisional Health Directorate, said the facility was taken over after the health department agreed in writing to the existing shortcomings. He said they hoped to inaugurate the hospital soon.
Khulna Divisional Health Director Dr Sheikh Md Mosharraf Hossain said work on the lifts, tiles and other components was still underway and the Public Works Department was trying to complete them through the contractors.
Local civil society representatives said the government had spent heavily on the infrastructure, but doctors, support staff, medical equipment and diagnostic facilities required to operate the hospital had yet to be fully arranged.
Local residents have called for the hospital to be opened quickly with modern facilities, noting that children from Khulna and other southwestern districts still have to travel to Dhaka or abroad for treatment of complex diseases.