8 years on, construction on Narsingdi Hospital’s new building remains incomplete

The project began in 2018 with a budget of Tk 403.8 million

The construction of a new building for the 100-bed district hospital in Narsingdi has not been completed in eight years. Meanwhile, patient services are being disrupted due to lack of space.

However, the Public Works Department has written to the hospital authorities to take over the building while the work is still ongoing.

On Sunday, hospital Superintendent ANM Mizanur Rahman said that the work on the new building, a project to upgrade the hospital to 250 beds, is not yet complete. A five-member committee has been formed to check the progress of the work. According to their report, the construction work is ongoing. It is not possible to take possession of the building unless construction is 100 percent complete.

The project's contractor firm, MN Huda Construction Limited, has claimed that they completed the building construction work in 2022 and handed it over to the Public Works Department. However, the ongoing work is currently being done through another contractor, said Kamal Uddin, the company's manager.

ASM Musa, executive engineer of Narsingdi of the Public Works Department, said that about 90 percent of the construction work of the building has been completed. Painting, installation of lifts and some plastering work are still incomplete. Apart from this, the work on a dialysis centre is going on through another contractor.

Ongoing work was visible in various parts of the eight-story building under construction. Although there are four lifts on the ground floor, they have not been installed. Workers are working on bricklaying, plastering and installing tiles to build a dialysis centre on the eighth floor.

Construction worker Amirul Islam said he has been working on the dialysis unit for a month. The brickwork has been completed, and plastering is currently under way. After that, tiles will be installed and painting will be done. He hoped that the work could be completed within a month.

The project began in 2018 at a cost of Tk 403.8 million. The building, which is under construction with a 13-story foundation, includes plans to set up an emergency department, outdoor, operation theatre, ICU, ward, administrative office, and dialysis centre on different floors.

The people of Narsingdi and surrounding districts are being deprived of healthcare as the project has yet to be completed. In many cases, patients are sent to Dhaka for advanced treatment, the hospital officials said.