Reza Mahmud :
Urban Primary Health Care Services Delivery Project (UPHCSDP), working in the capital failed to render adequate medical treatment to the poorer people for whom it has been established.
People from different areas of the city said that they are not getting ample medical treatment from the nearest health care center run by UPHCSDP.
Experts and the local people of every area say that lack of vision and insufficient monitoring are the hindrances to the mission.
People of Jurain, Gandaria, Sutrapur, Jatrabari, Matuail, Moghbazar, and many more areas have expressed similar frustration about the services of Urban Primary Health Care Services Delivery Project-run health centres. Even the centres do not have any dengue-testing kits. The officials of the centers also admitted it.
Preferring anonymity officials of those centers said, their salaries are irregular for about one year, which is one of the main reasons of the dismal condition of the centers.
Salaries and other facilities are being curtailed by NGO’s who have taken the responsibility through bidding.
Primary health care services like reproductive, maternal and children, teenage health care; abortion, delivery, diabetic and typhoid tests, blood grouping, and primary eye care are available in these centres.
Within an hour in the morning, seven to eight patients, all of whom were women and children, came for treatment. This was the scene in one of the health care centres in the city’s Sutrapur on Thursday.
The patients said, they do not get any free medicine and health service like pathological tests from the centre.
Dr Shanaz Nasreen, Chief Medical Officer of the centre, said, they have limitations in giving free medicines to poor patients.
There are about 2,000 red card holders – enlisted to take free treatment and medicines from the centres – but only 200 patients seek the service now.
The Urban Primary Health Care Services Delivery Project has health care centres in city corporations and some municipalities.
There are 57 primary health care centres and 10 maternal health care centres in Dhaka’s two city corporations.
Easy access, equity, and quality of urban primary health care services – particularly for the poor, women and children – are the targets of Asian Development Bank-funded project.
Since its inception in 2000, the NGOs have been running these projects through bidding, in every five-year phase.
Many urban poor people are red cards holders. They get all the treatment facilities from these centres completely free including caesarean child delivery service.
Experts blamed mismanagement and lack of proper monitoring for failure of these promising health care centres.
“The urban primary health care system is designed for the lower-income group people, have failed due to negligence,” Dr Mozaherul Haque, former advisor of World Health Organisation (WHO) told The New Nation.
The government needs to have a clear vision to take the health care sector to the next level. It also needs to ensure proper monitoring in urban medical facilities, suggested Mozaherul.
To give proper services to the urban poor, he said, the city corporations and the LGRD ministry should adopt the right-kind-of referral system.
The urban health care centres should refer poor patients, needing specialised treatment, to any public hospital, Mozaherul commented.
Md Asadul Islam, Secretary, Health and Family Planning Ministry, told The New Nation, they have a plan to sit with the LGRD ministry to extend primary health care services in local areas and introduce the right-kind-of referral system.
When contacted, the LGRD Minister Md Tajul Islam said he would take necessary actions after making an in-depth study.
The worsening condition of urban health care centres has become a threat to urban health. Many patients are now rushing to public hospitals, avoiding these health care centres, said Adil Mohammad Khan, General Secretary, Bangladesh Institute of Planners.
The government does not have much control over these failing urban health care facilities; they are run by the NGOs, commented Adil.
Failures of the local urban medical facilities are causing too many patients to crowd the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, DMCH and other public hospitals every day. All of these patients, struggling in the queues of hospital outdoors, cannot even get doctors finally.
“I have the responsibility to get the project done by the employees. But the project director, working under the ministry, has the management responsibilities,” said Brigadier General Sharif Ahmed, chief health officer, Dhaka South City Corporation.
“We are trying hard,” said Dhaka North City Corporation Chief Health Officer Brigadier General Mominur Rahman Mamun, “to make the primary health care facilities functional.” Abdul Hakim Majumder, the Project Director, said: “It cannot be denied that the health care services for the urban poor have become inefficient. But we are trying to make it workable.” He said, NGO’s who got the bid has responsibility to make the centers more workable. The local monitoring bodies comprising ward councilors should give more attention to make those centers functional.
Urban Primary Health Care Services Delivery Project (UPHCSDP), working in the capital failed to render adequate medical treatment to the poorer people for whom it has been established.
People from different areas of the city said that they are not getting ample medical treatment from the nearest health care center run by UPHCSDP.
Experts and the local people of every area say that lack of vision and insufficient monitoring are the hindrances to the mission.
People of Jurain, Gandaria, Sutrapur, Jatrabari, Matuail, Moghbazar, and many more areas have expressed similar frustration about the services of Urban Primary Health Care Services Delivery Project-run health centres. Even the centres do not have any dengue-testing kits. The officials of the centers also admitted it.
Preferring anonymity officials of those centers said, their salaries are irregular for about one year, which is one of the main reasons of the dismal condition of the centers.
Salaries and other facilities are being curtailed by NGO’s who have taken the responsibility through bidding.
Primary health care services like reproductive, maternal and children, teenage health care; abortion, delivery, diabetic and typhoid tests, blood grouping, and primary eye care are available in these centres.
Within an hour in the morning, seven to eight patients, all of whom were women and children, came for treatment. This was the scene in one of the health care centres in the city’s Sutrapur on Thursday.
The patients said, they do not get any free medicine and health service like pathological tests from the centre.
Dr Shanaz Nasreen, Chief Medical Officer of the centre, said, they have limitations in giving free medicines to poor patients.
There are about 2,000 red card holders – enlisted to take free treatment and medicines from the centres – but only 200 patients seek the service now.
The Urban Primary Health Care Services Delivery Project has health care centres in city corporations and some municipalities.
There are 57 primary health care centres and 10 maternal health care centres in Dhaka’s two city corporations.
Easy access, equity, and quality of urban primary health care services – particularly for the poor, women and children – are the targets of Asian Development Bank-funded project.
Since its inception in 2000, the NGOs have been running these projects through bidding, in every five-year phase.
Many urban poor people are red cards holders. They get all the treatment facilities from these centres completely free including caesarean child delivery service.
Experts blamed mismanagement and lack of proper monitoring for failure of these promising health care centres.
“The urban primary health care system is designed for the lower-income group people, have failed due to negligence,” Dr Mozaherul Haque, former advisor of World Health Organisation (WHO) told The New Nation.
The government needs to have a clear vision to take the health care sector to the next level. It also needs to ensure proper monitoring in urban medical facilities, suggested Mozaherul.
To give proper services to the urban poor, he said, the city corporations and the LGRD ministry should adopt the right-kind-of referral system.
The urban health care centres should refer poor patients, needing specialised treatment, to any public hospital, Mozaherul commented.
Md Asadul Islam, Secretary, Health and Family Planning Ministry, told The New Nation, they have a plan to sit with the LGRD ministry to extend primary health care services in local areas and introduce the right-kind-of referral system.
When contacted, the LGRD Minister Md Tajul Islam said he would take necessary actions after making an in-depth study.
The worsening condition of urban health care centres has become a threat to urban health. Many patients are now rushing to public hospitals, avoiding these health care centres, said Adil Mohammad Khan, General Secretary, Bangladesh Institute of Planners.
The government does not have much control over these failing urban health care facilities; they are run by the NGOs, commented Adil.
Failures of the local urban medical facilities are causing too many patients to crowd the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, DMCH and other public hospitals every day. All of these patients, struggling in the queues of hospital outdoors, cannot even get doctors finally.
“I have the responsibility to get the project done by the employees. But the project director, working under the ministry, has the management responsibilities,” said Brigadier General Sharif Ahmed, chief health officer, Dhaka South City Corporation.
“We are trying hard,” said Dhaka North City Corporation Chief Health Officer Brigadier General Mominur Rahman Mamun, “to make the primary health care facilities functional.” Abdul Hakim Majumder, the Project Director, said: “It cannot be denied that the health care services for the urban poor have become inefficient. But we are trying to make it workable.” He said, NGO’s who got the bid has responsibility to make the centers more workable. The local monitoring bodies comprising ward councilors should give more attention to make those centers functional.
