This is unacceptable that medical centres at most universities are in bad shape as they are crippled by a shortage of human resources, infrastructure and other facilities. The sorry state of the centres has limited the access of students, teachers and officials to quality and timely treatment. The centres are also supposed to provide for diagnostic facilities, but most equipment in the medical centres has fallen into disuse. The medical centre at the University of Rajshahi is beset with multiple problems such as the shortage of medicine, equipment, funding and human resources. While the centre has 36 positions of physicians and six of technologists, it has only 14 physicians and two technologists. The centre also does not have the required number of emergency medical officers and nurses. Three out of six positions of emergency medical officers and four out of six positions of nurses have been vacant for years. With such constraints, the authorities are reported to have suspended afternoon services at the centre while morning services are also hampered. When the centre is supposed to offer consultation and more than 40 medical tests, students are often denied the services.
Students allege that most physicians do not attend office regularly and when they do, they only prescribe painkillers and refer patients to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital. The university authorities admit that the centre is not fully operational, there is a severe shortage of human resources and some devices are not functional. The authorities took an initiative in 2020 to recruit 13 physicians and other technologists and staff at the centre, but the process stalled. Medical centres at other universities, including the University of Dhaka, Jahangirnagar University and the University of Chittagong, are in no better shape. The University of Dhaka centre also suffers from a lack of adequate human resources and other facilities. Students allege that physicians often do not go to the centre, do not properly attend patients and often refer them to other hospitals even for treatment and services that are meant to be available there. Chittagong University students also allege that the medical centre is in a sorry state and whenever they visit the centre, the physicians, in most cases, prescribe analgesic tablets and refer them to other hospitals. Students also do not receive the basic treatment from dentists at the centre. The Jahangirnagar University centre is also in bad shape, causing immense suffering to students.
The authorities should, therefore, attend to the issues. The authorities should also ensure that the centres have adequate human resources and provide all the services they are meant to provide.
