Amid rubble, Mirpur health centre keeps child vaccination drive running

Despite its buildings being demolished and medical equipment looted, the Radda MCH-FP Centre in the capital's Mirpur-1 has kept its healthcare services running, with child vaccination taking place from a narrow makeshift space beside the rubble.

During a visit to the centre on Sunday morning, the main gate was found closed, with debris from the demolished buildings scattered inside the premises. Outside the gate, tables and chairs had been set up where local mothers brought their children for routine immunisation as well as the ongoing measles-rubella (MR) vaccination campaign.

Local residents also gathered at the site to see the damaged facility.

Several residents said a group of around 200 to 250 masked men, equipped with lethal weapons, attacked the centre around midnight on Thursday. They allegedly tied up security guards before demolishing one permanent and three semi-permanent buildings.

The attackers then allegedly loaded air conditioners, refrigerators, medicines, vaccines, cash, furniture and other belongings onto several trucks and took them away.

After the attack, signboards and banners bearing the name ''Sammona Shopkeepers’ Cooperative Society Ltd'' were allegedly put up at the site.

Residents said the Radda MCH-FP Centre, established in 1974, has long provided free vaccination, maternal healthcare, obstetric and family planning services to underprivileged women and children in the area in partnership with the government.

Officials of the centre and local residents alleged that the attack and looting were carried out with the intention of taking control of the land on which the health facility stands.

Nazrul Islam Chowdhury, a local resident who brought his two-year-old son Zayan Chowdhury to the centre for a measles vaccination, expressed his frustration over the destruction.

“My father brought me here for vaccination when I was a child. Later, I brought my elder son here for vaccination. But the centre was suddenly demolished the day before yesterday. It is extremely painful for us.''

“People in this area have received healthcare here for around 50 years. I have never heard that this was someone else’s land. We want future generations to continue receiving healthcare here. The government should quickly renovate the centre and restore its services,” he added.

Dr Nasrin Akhter, executive director of the Radda MCH-FP Centre, said the facility would continue providing services despite the circumstances.

“We will continue our activities under any circumstances. At present, all EPI vaccination services are continuing. However, we cannot provide family planning services because all the necessary supplies were looted. When women come, doctors provide consultations and send them back,” she said.

She added that the centre had appealed to the district administration to remove the seal placed on the main gate so that normal activities could resume inside the facility.

“We do not know how long it will be possible to provide services from outside. We have requested that the seal on the gate be removed so that we can resume our activities normally inside the centre,” Dr Nasrin said.