For 21 years, Ratna Acharya worked as an attendant in the health department of Chattogram City Corporation (CCC), supporting her family on her salary. The 52-year-old paid the rent, bought groceries and covered other household expenses. But when her salary stopped in July, she was forced to borrow money to make ends meet.
As debts mounted and worries over unpaid wages and household expenses deepened, Ratna fell ill. She died on Sunday night.
Ratna was employed as an attendant at the Ward 17 West Bakalia Urban Health Centre in Chattogram.
Her daughter, Rima Acharya, told TIMES that her mother had been the family’s main breadwinner.
Her elder sister is married, while her younger brother is still studying. Rima herself recently completed her undergraduate studies and started working, but the primary responsibility for supporting the family remained with her mother.
“My mother last attended work on Thursday. When she returned home, she looked extremely worried,” Rima said.
“Her condition deteriorated on Saturday, so we admitted her to Chattogram Medical College Hospital. Doctors said she had suffered a stroke and a heart attack. She also had pneumonia.
“On Sunday night, doctors advised moving her to the intensive care unit (ICU), but she died before that could happen.”
Ratna’s death has left her family facing financial uncertainty. The salary that sustained the household had remained unpaid since July.
Another 362 officers and employees of the CCC health department are facing the same situation.
They allege that administrative complications have delayed their salaries, leaving them struggling to pay house rent, children’s education expenses, grocery bills and medical costs.
Some have been forced to borrow money to support their families.
How the salary crisis began
According to officials familiar with the matter, five maternity centres and 43 urban health centres were established in Chattogram in 1998 under the Urban Health Care Project.
Healthcare services began at these centres in January 2001.
A second-phase initiative, the Urban Primary Health Care Services Delivery Project-2, was subsequently undertaken to provide primary healthcare services to city residents. The project ran from 30 September 2020 to June 2025.
Under the two urban healthcare projects, between eight and 10 employees work at each health centre across Chattogram’s 41 wards.
They include medical officers, counsellors, field supervisors, paramedics, laboratory technicians, administrative assistants, receptionists, service promoters, attendants-cum-cleaners and messengers-cum-security personnel.
The centres provide residents with 16 types of healthcare services free of charge, alongside other services at subsidised rates.
192 urban primary healthcare centres operate across 12 city corporations and 23 municipalities under the Ministry of Local Government.
On 22 April, the government decided to transfer these facilities to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
As part of the decision, 363 permanent and temporary health department employees and urban project staff of Chattogram City Corporation were transferred to the Civil Surgeon’s Office on 7 June.
The Civil Surgeon’s Office formally accepted them.
However, complications over salary payments and allowances emerged immediately after the transfer.
Although employees received their June salaries from the city corporation, payments stopped in July.
Salaries for July, August and September remain outstanding, while officials have been unable to confirm when October’s wages will be paid.
Agreement reached, payments still pending
An online meeting was held on 12 October to address the crisis.
It was attended by the director general and additional director general of the Directorate General of Health Services, divisional directors, relevant civil surgeons, city corporation representatives and representatives of various non-governmental organisations.
The meeting decided that existing arrangements would remain in place until March.
Healthcare workers would continue serving at their previous workplaces under their respective city corporations, which would remain responsible for paying their salaries and allowances.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the government is expected to be signed by March, while the Ministry of Health is expected to issue an official letter outlining the arrangements within seven days.
Employees allege that although their responsibilities were transferred from one authority to another, the administrative procedures necessary to ensure salary payments were never completed.
CCC officials maintain that the city corporation is no longer responsible for paying salaries after transferring the employees to the Civil Surgeon’s Office.
Health department officials, meanwhile, say payments cannot be made through the ministry because the necessary procedures remain incomplete.
As the two authorities maintain their respective positions, employees have been left without salaries.
A health worker from CCC’s Ward 12 in Pahartali, speaking to TIMES on condition of anonymity, said employees were transferred on 7 June and received their June salaries from the city corporation.
However, they have not received any payments since July.
“We have gone four months without salaries. Paying house rent, children’s school fees and household expenses has become extremely difficult,” the employee said.
