Khulna jail has little treatment facilities for women inmates
Khulna district jail has no treatment facilities for the female prisoners.
Though there is a hospital for the male inmates in the jail, the fair sex are not entitled to have any treatment there.
Besides, when the 25-bed hospital is filled to its capacity, the male patients also receive treatment on the hospital floor.
Only a pharmacist remains on constant duty for treatment of the inmates at the hospital, jail sources said.
To the patients, he is known as 'Chhoto Daktar' or a doctor in crisis.
The lone physician at the hospital is known to them as 'Bara Daktar' or main doctor.
Male prisoners with serious illness are given indoor treatment at the hospital while those with minor physical problems get first aid there.
But the female inmates have no access to any of the medical facilities, be it indoor or outdoor.
Patients with serious illness that the hospital finds unable to handle are sent to the prison cells of either Khulna General Hospital or Khulna Medical College and Hospital.
Recently, the jail authorities have set up a 'temporary' treatment centre inside the women ward, where it is not possible to provide treatment to more than two female patients at a time.
However, the authorities sometimes bring all sick female inmates to the ward for treatment, putting the general women inmates in an awkward position.
The situation has not only frustrated the human rights bodies but also angered many of them.
Advocate Mominul Islam, coordinator of Khulna unit of Bangladesh Manabadhikar Bastabayan Sangstha, said the matter depriving the female prisoners of treatment facilities, a basic right, cannot be accepted.
Mansura Begum, who was released on bail from the jail on November 22, expressed her resentment over the situation and said when women prisoners fall sick, a pharmacist is called for treatment.
Mansura further alleged that the 'Chhoto Daktar' dispenses medicines only for fever, headache and cold-related diseases.
Jailer Md Rafiqul Islam admitted to the allegation that there was no medical centre for the women prisoners.
Beds for women at the jail were not considered when it was established in 1812, Rafiqul Islam said.
It was not possible to set up a hospital for women in the jail for want of space, he added and said that the authorities should set up a hospital in the compound immediately.
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