Konda Govt Hospital turns into anaconda gobbling up funds

Konda 20-bed Government Hospital in South Keraniganj has turned into an anaconda, gobbling up huge amounts of government funds in the name of staff salaries and related services while failing to deliver healthcare to the people it was built to serve.

Abandoned for nearly two decades amid allegations of political vendetta, official neglect and persistent security problems, the facility has earned a grim local nickname - the “haunted hospital”. Its decaying buildings, stolen fixtures and overgrown premises stand in stark contrast to the public money allocated for its upkeep and staffing.

Locals blame political vendetta and neglect for the hospital’s prolonged decline, while repeated thefts and security concerns reportedly discouraged doctors and other staff from staying. As a result, the facility has remained largely non-functional for years, leaving residents without a vital source of public healthcare.

Built on around 100 kathas of land beside the Hasnabad-Pangaon road in the Doleshwar area of Konda Union, the hospital complex comprises four two-storey buildings, including the main hospital block.

The main gate, doors, windows and stair railings were stolen long ago. Although the hospital has separate wards for men and women, not a single bed remains. Bushes have swallowed much of the premises, while the dilapidated buildings have become a haunt for drug users.

Three of the four buildings were designed to accommodate doctors, nurses and other staff. Today, however, the residential quarters stand deserted, offering little sign of the medical activity for which the complex was built.

According to the Dhaka District Civil Surgeon’s Office, four doctors are officially assigned to the hospital. A pharmacist and an office assistant were also appointed to the facility.

Yet the gap between official staffing records and actual service delivery remains glaring. A doctor transferred from Kurmitola General Hospital to Konda 20-bed Hospital, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Daily Observer: “I am an orthopaedic specialist. I do not know why I was transferred from Kurmitola Hospital to Konda 20-bed Hospital. Since my transfer, I have been providing services at the Upazila Health Complex.”

*    Tk 50 lakh allocated to the hospital annually
*    Built on around 100 kathas of land now abandoned
*    24 govt hospitals with 20 beds each across country
*    3 of them located in Keraniganj

The hospital’s budgetary trail adds another layer to the controversy. In the 2024-25 fiscal year, allocations covered salaries and allowances, cleaning supplies, publicity and advertisements, travel, transfers, stationery, furniture and computer equipment, among other expenses. However, most of the allocated funds reportedly remained unspent because the hospital was not operational.

The budget for the current 2025-26 fiscal year tells a different story. Apart from salaries and allowances, most spending heads have no allocation, while only Tk 1 lakh has been earmarked for cleaning services.

Information obtained for this report suggests that around Tk 50 lakh was allocated to the hospital annually. However, the available records do not establish that the full amount was spent. While most allocations for non-salary expenses reportedly remained unspent in 2024-25, the absence of allocations under most such heads in 2025-26 raises further questions about the facility’s future.

Md Ruhul Amin, a former sub-assistant medical officer at the hospital, said security problems had plagued the facility from the outset. Repeated incidents of theft and robbery made staff reluctant to stay, undermining efforts to maintain regular services.

“Previously, we tried to treat patients with a limited supply of medicines,” he said.

For local residents, the hospital’s collapse is more than a story of crumbling infrastructure and questionable spending. It is a daily struggle for access to timely treatment, particularly when medical emergencies strike.

Ashikur Rahman, Konda Union Parishad entrepreneur (A2I), told The Daily Observer that neither Konda nor the neighbouring Tegharia and Shuvadda unions had a government hospital, forcing residents to travel to Dhaka for treatment.

He recalled how his mother suffered a stroke at around 1:00am a few years ago. The family first rushed her to a nearby private hospital, only to find that it lacked the facilities to treat stroke patients. They then had to take her to Mitford Hospital in Dhaka.

Cargo-truck congestion on the road to Babubazar Bridge delayed the journey, he said. The doctor later told him that his mother could have died had they arrived a little later. The experience, Ashikur said, illustrates the dangers residents face when emergency medical care is needed in the dead of night.

According to locals, the hospital was established in 2006 under the BNP-led government at the initiative of Aman Ullah Aman, then lawmaker and state minister representing the undivided Keraniganj constituency. Initially opened as a 10-bed facility, it was later upgraded to 20 beds.

For its first two years, the hospital provided limited services, including primary treatment, medicine distribution and some emergency care. Its operations gradually deteriorated after 2008, and it never returned to full operation.

In October 2018, then health minister Mohammed Nasim visited the hospital during a tour of Keraniganj and promised to reopen it. The pledge, however, remained unfulfilled, leaving the facility trapped in a cycle of abandonment.

Locals allege that the hospital, established during the BNP-led administration, subsequently became a victim of political vendetta and official neglect. The allegation of political retaliation could not be independently verified.

Residents across Konda Union said the absence of local healthcare services had forced them to seek treatment at the Keraniganj Upazila Health Complex or hospitals in Dhaka. The arrangement adds travel costs and precious delays, particularly for patients requiring urgent care.

In a possible step towards restoring services, the Keraniganj Upazila Health Complex recently invited tenders to recruit manpower through outsourcing. Konda 20-bed Hospital was included in the recruitment list. Whether the move will translate into sustained operations remains to be seen.