Open newly built Dinajpur hospital without further delay
Interns plan agitation to realise demand
Completed in 2008, the new building for the 500-bed hospital of Dinajpur Medical College and Hospital still waits inauguration, depriving the treatment seekers. PHOTO: STAR
The interns and students of Dinajpur Medical College and Hospital have demanded that the government open the newly built 500-bed hospital building immediately to mitigate sufferings of the patient and facilitate the doctor to perform their duties properly. They made the demand at a press conference at Dinajpur Press Club yesterday. Intern Md Iftekhar Hossain Chowdhury read out a written statement at the conference. Interns and students of the medical college and hospital also announced that they would wear black badges and form a human chain in front of Dinajpur Sadar Hospital on January 29 to press home their demand. They said Dinajpur Medical College and Hospital started functioning at Sadar Hospital in 1992 and construction of the hospital building began in 1997 through laying foundation stone by the then prime minister Sheikh Hasina. They alleged that construction work came to a halt in 2001 as the BNP-led four-party alliance government shifted the funds to Ziaur Rahman Medical College and Hospital in Bogra. In wake of violent protest of the students and doctors, the construction of the building restarted in 2004 and completed in 2008. But inauguration of the building is being delayed due to bureaucratic tangles, alleged the interns and students. Contacted, Chairman of Dinajpur Medical College and Hospital Managing Committee Iqbalur Rahim said the college and hospital will be shifted to the new building next month (February). Sources said hundreds of patients of Dinajpur and its adjacent districts are being deprived of getting better treatment due to accommodation problems at Sadar Hospital where the DJMCH is functioning temporarily. During a recent visit to the hospital, this correspondent saw the patients are being treated in a scattering way at different places including verandas and corridors. He also saw awful condition at the hospital that has become a nuisance for patients, staff as well as visitors. "Condition of the toilets is so bad that foul smell spreads to wards and corridors, much to the inconvenience of staff, patients and their attendants,'' said a doctor seeking anonymity.
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