The Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Medical College Hospital (SZMCH) in Bogra has been running without any Intensive Care Unit (ICU), even though the unit was completed almost five years ago.
The 500-bed hospital started functioning in August 2006. The Public Works Department (PWD) started the construction of the ICU on August 27, 2007 and it was completed by November 11, 2008 at a cost of Tk1.71crore.
Brigadier General AKM Mustafa Kamal Pasha, the director of the hospital, said the ICU was yet to start functioning because of a manpower shortage, but the authority concerned has already started initiatives to get the unit running.
“I sent a letter a few days ago to the ministry concerned, asking for the appointment of 113 staff and the list of equipment required to start seven ICU beds in the hospital. According to the demand letter, the authority has decided to buy the required equipment and provide the manpower,” the director said.
According to SZMCH sources, patients from nearly 16 northern districts, as well as some southern districts like Kushtia, have had to spend huge amounts of money to get ICU support in Dhaka.
Dr Md Rezaul Alam Juwel, assistant professor of the hospital’s Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, said: “A patient in need of ICU support has to spend at least Tk10,000 to Tk30,000 per day in Dhaka based private hospitals, however people of this region will have the possibility of getting free treatment once the unit starts functioning.”