Despite having modern buildings, expensive medical equipment, beds, generators and even residential facilities for health workers, four 10-bed Mother and Child Welfare Centres in Jhenaidah remain largely non-functional, eight years after their inauguration, due to a shortage of doctors.
The centres were established in Dudhshar and Kancherkol villages in Shailkupa upazila,Dakkhin Kashtasagra in Jhenaidah Sadar upazila and Kaliganj municipality, with the aim of bringing maternal and child healthcare services closer to rural communities.
The failure to operationalise the centres has left thousands of women and children in rural areas deprived of essential healthcare, particularly maternal and neonatal services, said locals.
Meanwhile, infrastructure built with crores of taka in public funds is deteriorating without being put to proper use.
Although the facilities were formally inaugurated in 2018, the absence of adequate medical staff, particularly doctors, has prevented them from providing the intended range of services.
As a result, pregnant women from remote and economically disadvantaged communities have to travel to distant upazila or district hospitals, spending additional time and money to access emergency maternity care and caesarean sections.
The situation is particularly difficult for low-income families, for whom the cost and inconvenience of travelling to distant healthcare facilities can become an additional burden during pregnancy and childbirth.
Rafiqul Islam, a resident of Kaliganj, expressed frustration over the situation, saying that although the government had spent crores of taka on buildings and infrastructure, the facilities remained locked or were operating only nominally due to a lack of doctors and other manpower.
He urged the authorities to appoint doctors and recruit the necessary staff without further delay to ensure healthcare services for disadvantaged people in the area.
Contacted, Deputy Director of the Jhenaidah Family Planning Office Mohammad Mozammel Karim said there were plans to bring the centres into regular operation.
He said recommendations had already been sent to the higher authorities seeking the appointment of two doctors for each centre to address the shortage.
Once the recruitment process is completed, he expressed hope that healthcare services in the underserved areas would improve significantly.
The problem reflects a broader shortage of medical professionals in the country’s public healthcare system.
According to figures presented by Health and Family Welfare Minister Sardar Md Sakhawat Husain in Parliament on September 7, 2026, only 30,311 doctors were working against 41,806 sanctioned posts in government hospitals, leaving 11,495 positions vacant.
The minister also said Bangladesh would need around 88,909 doctors to meet the World Health Organization’s minimum standard of 0.50 doctors per 1,000 people, based on a government-funded study conducted in 2026.
The government has undertaken several recruitment initiatives to address the shortage.