A case has been filed against patients who staged a protest at Chittagong Medical College Hospital against a decision to hike kidney dialysis fees.
The case was filed at Panchlaish police station on Tuesday night bringing allegations of obstructing police officers and attacking them.
Inspector Sadekur Rahman said Sub-Inspector Mostafizur Rahman filed the case mentioning one detained patient, Mostakim, and 40-50 other unnamed people.
Nazim Uddin Majumder, officer-in-charge of Panchlaish police station, said that the kidney patients protested by blocking the main road in front of the hospital on Tuesday afternoon with a demand of a reduction in the increased fees for dialysis
“When we asked the protestors to clear the road, they attacked the police, including me. Five policemen were injured. A person involved in the attack on me was arrested on the spot. He was accused in this case,” said the OC.
The kidney patients and their relatives staged demonstrations for the last couple of days protesting the hike in dialysis fees in front of the dialysis centre of the hospital.
They also threatened to continue their movement until the authorities concerned took any steps to restore the previous fees.
The protesters said a patient needs dialysis eight times a month and they have to pay Tk2,795 for the first two times and Tk510 for each of the rest.
Now the hospital authorities have raised the fee to Tk2,935 and the patients have to pay it four times and Tk535 for each of the remaining dialysis in a month, they said.
The kidney dialysis centre was launched at the hospital under a public-private partnership project in 2017 and it is now operating with 32 dialysis machines.
According to the agreement with the Ministry of Health, the Indian company Sandor will continue its operations at this centre for ten years. The institution will use government space for this. A patient has to pay about Tk3,000 for kidney dialysis each time.