Rangamati General Hospital’s newly constructed building, built to expand its capacity and services, remains unused due to an acute manpower shortage.
Under the government’s 4th Health, Population and Nutrition Sector Programme (4th HPNSP), funded by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the Public Works Department constructed the six-storey building at a cost of Tk 48.5 crore.
Construction began in July 2019 and was completed within the stipulated deadline in June 2024. However, the facility was handed over to the Health Department in Rangamati more than a year later, in November 2025.
Equipped with modern operating theatres, ICUs, isolation units, four elevators and facilities to expand the hospital’s capacity from 100 to 250 beds, the building remains non-functional as authorities have yet to shift services from the old facility.
“The building has already been handed over to the Health Department upon completion of its construction, and they have taken its possession. However, I have learnt that the hospital authorities could not start services in the new facility yet,” said Sharmi Chakma, executive engineer of Rangamati PWD.
“If it remains unused for a prolonged period, the elevators and other electrical equipment may get damaged,” she added.
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According to hospital sources, the emergency department, pharmacy, store, ticket counter and related activities will operate on the ground floor of the new building. The second floor will house a 20-bed ICU and isolation unit. The third floor will accommodate a pathological lab, X-ray and MRI facilities, and a kidney dialysis unit. Operation theatres will be on the fourth floor and the post-operative unit on the fifth floor, while the sixth floor will have wards and cabins for patients.
During a visit to the hospital’s old 100-bed facility, this correspondent found that the number of admitted patients far exceeded its capacity, with many receiving treatment on floors and in corridors.
Patients said the hospital is the last resort for people from remote areas across the Chattogram Hill Tracts. They said that if the new facility were functional, they could receive better treatment.
Dr Nuyen Khisa, civil surgeon in Rangamati and the hospital superintendent, said services could not be launched in the new building due to a lack of adequate manpower. “We will try to shift some services to the new building on a limited scale within the next few days,” he added.
