Hasina to lay foundation for Bangladesh’s first super-specialised hospital with 1,000 beds

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will lay the foundation stone on Thursday for the first-ever super-specialised hospital in Bangladesh, which will be built with South Korea’s support.

Once inaugurated in 2021, the 13-storey hospital at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University or BSMMU will be the first place in Bangladesh where ‘centre-based’ medical services will be provided.

The prime minister will also inaugurate some new projects under the Centre of Excellence of the first medical university of Bangladesh on that day, Vice-Chancellor Prof Kanak Kanti Barua said at a media briefing on Tuesday.

He said the 1,000-bed hospital will be a model facility for Bangladesh where "the state-of-the-art" services will be provided with “affordable price”.

“It’ll be like a hospital in Singapore where centre-based services are offered,” he said.

Project Director of the hospital Prof Zulfiqur Rahman Khan explained that for instance, for mother and child care, everything will be in one place for the convenience of the patients.

“Now you need to go from one place to another, from one ward to another of a hospital. But here, every discipline will be a separate centre so that they can offer everything in one place.”

He said there will be centres such as Centre for Specialised Austism and Maternal and Child Care, Emergency Medical Care Centre, Hepatobiliary and Gastroenterology Centre, Cardio and Cerebrovascular Centre, Kidney Centre, and Respiratory Medicine Centre.

Prof Zulfiqur said to make it a green hospital following the prime minister’s wishes, there will be gardens around the hospital. There will also be sunken garden, rooftop garden and other environment-friendly facilities.

South Korea is supervising the implementation of the project and has also designed it.

The hospital will be housed on the northern side of the BSMMU on 3.4 acres of land.

Of the Tk 13.66 billion project, South Korea will lend Tk 10.47 billion at a low interest rate of 0.01 percent with 40 years of repayment time, including 15 years' grace period.

The prime minister will inaugurate five-storey convention centre of the university located in front of the former Sheraton Hotel. She will also open new building for diagnostic facilities and doctors’ dormitory during her visit on Thursday.

The Bangabandhu University was established in 1998, when the Awami League was in power, converting the then Institute of Postgraduate Medical Research or IPGMR into a medical university.

Of the nearly 1,900 beds, it reserves 45 percent free for poor patients, Vice-Chancellor Prof Kanak said. The hospital also distributes some drugs free of cost.

The prime minister has donated Tk 150 million in two phases to create special fund for those who cannot afford even a minimum Tk 30 ticket to get services from the hospital.

“With accumulated interest, it is now a Tk 260 million fund. And we give Tk 10,000 to a poor patient apart from free treatment from the hospital so that they can buy medicines and other things not supplied from the hospital for their treatment,” he said.