The lone river ambulance of Chandpur 250-Bed General Hospital has been lying idle without any care for the last eight years on the premises of Chandpur Civil Surgeon office.
Layer of funguses have grown on the ambulance body, looking derelict as it rests on the premises of Chandpur Civil Surgeon office, just opposite to the hospital.
Officials informed that after the super cyclone Sidr caused havoc to the country’s riverine areas, including Chandpur district, the higher authorities procured the River Ambulance in 2008 for Chandpur Sadar Hospital now renamed 250-Bed General Hospital for the benefit of the patients living along the river banks.
 People often raise question about the deplorable condition of this lone river ambulance, but nobody can answer properly to this question about this river ambulance, procured at a cost of Tk 68 lakh.
However, the higher authorities neither appointed skilled staff nor allocated the fuel needed to operate the river vessel.
Time and again, many correspondences were made to the higher authorities from the Civil Surgeon’s Office and the hospital authorities about the shortcomings, but to no effect, said the hospital’s superintendent Dr Pradip KR Dutta. Meanwhile, many parts of this ambulance might have gone out of order due to the wear and tear, he added.