AHMED HUMAYUN KABIR TOPU, Pabna

​For the residents of Char Pechakola, a shoal within the Jamuna river under Pabna’s Bera upazila, a medical emergency is more than just a health crisis; it is often a life-and-death struggle.

Though the distance to the nearest health complex is only around seven to eight kilometres, the journey usually takes around three hours through the shoal’s shifting sands and Jamuna’s waterways, making it an arduous task to take a critical patient to hospital in time.

To make matters worse, the lone river ambulance for medical emergencies in the region has long been lying non-operational.

As such, local residents always keep the phone numbers of local boatmen on speed dial. These boatmen remain awake throughout the night, ready to navigate the dark waters if an emergency arises.

​“When someone falls ill, it brings a desperate time for the entire family,” said Md Ibrahim from Char Pechakola village.

“We have to transport the patient across the sands via horse carts to the riverbank first, before finding a boat to cross the river to the mainland and finally reach the upazila health complex,” he added.

​The stakes are highest for pregnant women.

“Pregnant women suffer the most. No doctor ever visits this village. In critical moments, we are forced to hire trained nurses from outside to perform deliveries here because we simply cannot take the patient to hospital in time under the present circumstances,” Ibrahim explained.

​While Ibrahim noted that there have been no recent fatalities in his specific village, the risk remains high in the absence of even the most basic facilities.

​A similar scenario prevails in neighbouring Char Nagdah, Hatail Aralia, Char Pailanda, Char Agbashoha, Char Safulla, Dewnai, Pukurpar, Sharifpur, Char Pagla, and other shoal villages under the upazila.

In 2013, the government, through the Directorate of Central Medical Store Depots (CMSD), allotted a specialised river ambulance to the Bera Upazila Health Complex under a project to serve over 1,00,000 residents of 22 shoal villages.

That ambulance, however, has long been lying abandoned and rotting on the mainland due to a lack of maintenance.

Confirming the matter, Dr Tahmina Yeasmin, upazila health officer in Bera, said the project was hampered from the start. “There was never a budget for fuel, maintenance, or a driver. Later, the engine got stolen, and the vessel is now nothing but a hollow shell,” she added.

​Internal records regarding the project’s cost or the disappearance of its machinery are also non-existent.

Dr Tahmina also said that despite routinely reporting the issue to the Directorate General of Health Services, no action has been taken.

​Md Monzed Ali, executive director of an NGO named Jamuna Somaj Kollan Shangshtha, termed it a part of a broader pattern of deprivation for the people of the region.

“While there is a mobile NGO hospital boat, it is not enough. Many patients died during the long journey to the mainland while being taken to hospitals,” he added.

“An ambulance meant for the poor is left to decay because of a lack of maintenance. If functional, it would have eased a lot of suffering, especially for pregnant women and critical patients,” said Md Abul Kalam, a local college teacher.

Contacted, Nuren Mayesha Khan, assistant commissioner (land) in Bera upazila, said an initiative is underway to resume the river ambulance service.

“Necessary steps will be taken to this end,” the official added.