Majher char in Pirojpur with no healthcare
“I don't recall the exact date,” says Md Moharaz, 35. “It was two years ago, an afternoon in the Bangla month of Chaitra when my sister first complained of diarrhoea. It didn't seem serious at first and, as there aren't any doctors or a hospital nearby, we decided to wait.” That night, Shilpi Begum's conditioned worsened. Some minutes after 9:00am on the following morning, the 25-year-old wife of Md Nobi Hossain and mother of two, was dead.
Begum's demise is less a case of negligence or lack of will on the part of her family to seek her treatment. It was a consequence of geography, a death caused by address.
The family lives on Majher Char, in Betmore Rajpara union of Pirojpur's Mathbaria upazila. Majher Char is an island in the Baleshwar River around 15 kilometres from Mathbaria headquarters.
“Majher Char was created by river currents around 1950,” says Md Shahidul Islam, a local council member. “Settlement of the island of about 750 acres was organised in 1965 by the then Pakistan government, who distributed the land among homeless people.” Majher Char's current population is about 1,100.
To reach Mathbaria's health complex from the island takes two hours by boat. In the other direction is Sharonkhola upazila health complex in Bagerhat district, which is a 90 minute journey. Neither destination is easy to reach at night.
“In the daytime, people can use fishing boats,” says boatman Hazrat Ali, “but if the current is unfavourable it will take double the time and besides, if a boat gets stuck in water hyacinth it's not possible to move at all.”
Ali is the man people turn to for any night time emergency. “I try my best to support people with my engine-run boat,” he says, admitting that negotiating the river after dark is a challenge.
“Shilpi's diarrhoea became really bad around midnight,” recalls Moharaz. “We went to the other side of the island to find a local medic but he said there was nothing he could do, suggesting we take her to the hospital.”
“At dawn we started for Sharonkhola by boat, arriving at about 9:00am,” he continues, “but the duty doctor said it was too late for my sister. She died a few minutes later.”
“I've seen many die without treatment,” says Abdus Salam Jomadder, 75, who has lived on the island since childhood. “If there was a health centre here not only would lives be saved but we could learn more about healthcare.”
“Almost all the islanders are fishers,” says Halim Mollah, 35, the wireless operator of a local cyclone shelter. “They don't know well how to look after their health, and they rarely seek medical help until a patient's condition is serious. It's often too late by then.”
Still today, lifestyles and livelihoods on Majher Char are basic. Still today, the most common healthcare practices involve either herbal treatment or simply waiting for recovery without any treatment at all.
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