Noman Mosharef :
The patients from different parts of the country who came to get better treatment at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University’s (BSMMU) Super Specialised Hospital, the first of its kind in the country were not happy with its service.
They alleged about various limitations of the Super Specialised Hospital.
On September 14, 2022, the prime minister inaugurated the 750-bed specialised hospital, which had promised to bring medical services that were not available in most of the general hospitals in Bangladesh.
But still it could not possible to reach its goal, even after over six months since its inauguration.
Moreover, the patients were yet to get any benefit from the hospital, which they alleged caused patients more suffering than good.
Patients and their relatives demanded the start of full operations at the hospital to ensure better services for them amid scarcity of quality healthcare services in the country.
Three months after the inauguration, the hospital management started partial outdoor services, mainly physician consultations, as most medical tests were not yet available.
Sayedul Haque, a patient from Rangpur, said that he had visited a cardiologist in the hospital, paying a fee of Tk 400.
‘I am happy with their service as the doctor and attendants cared for me and carefully listened to my problem. But I cannot complete my treatment here as the hospital has no heart-related diagnoses like an electrocardiogram,’ he said.
Patients said that the consultation fee in the hospital is 20 times higher than the usual government hospitals and even double the government’s ‘Institutional Practice Policy 2023’.
A professor during office hours charges Tk 600, which is Tk 1,000 in the evening, an associate professor charges Tk 400, which is double in the evening, and an associate professor charges Tk 300, which is double in the evening shift.
Authorities said that the Super Specialised Hospital is not a public hospital, and here only expert doctors consult patients.
Joynal Abedin, an attendant and husband of Jahanara Begum, a multi-disease patient, came to the hospital from Mymensingh.
He said that they had to come to the hospital repeatedly to seek treatment.
‘If there was the indoor facility, I could admit her [Jahanara] and send her back home after completing treatment,’ he said.
The Super Specialised Hospital director, Brigadier General Md Abdullah-Al-Harun, said that the hospital could not become fully functional as some machinery was yet to reach it, while manpower shortages and budget crises also prevented its operation.
He explained that only 33 per cent of the total 1,763 posts were fulfilled in the hospital, while six anaesthesia machines remained stuck in port and 28 kidney dialysis machines were yet to reach the country.
‘Within two months, we hope to start full operation,’ he hoped.
Asked why they inaugurated the hospital without proper preparation, he claimed that they planned to start services in phases.
The hospital staffers said that on average, 150 patients visit the hospital to get outpatient services, mainly doctors’ consultations.
The 13-storey hospital on 3.4 acres of land close to BSMMU and opposite the Hotel Intercontinental was constructed for a total cost of Tk 1,561 crore, supported by the South Korean government’s Economic Development Cooperation Fund, the Bangladesh government, and BSMMU.
The hospital, which runs under the guidelines of BSMMU, is supposed to have 14 ultra-modern operation theatres, a 100-bed Intensive Care Unit, a 100-bed emergency unit, some 44 cabins, and 540 general beds.
The specialised services include bone marrow transplants, gene therapy, and robotic surgery.
BSMMU vice-chancellor Md Sharfuddin Ahmed declared during the hospital’s inauguration that nanotechnology-based medical services and robot-assisted surgery would also be introduced at the super-specialised hospital soon.
Health rights campaigners said that the vision of the hospital was to ensure healthcare for outbound patients to save foreign currency, but the goal could not be achieved if it failed to create a reputation.
Every year, approximately 800,000 people travel abroad for treatment, primarily to India and other countries such as Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Dubai, spending millions of dollars in foreign currency.
According to data released by India’s tourism ministry, a huge majority of medical tourists – 54.3 per cent – who visited the country in 2020 were from Bangladesh.