Locals and stakeholders held demonstrations in front of Holling Bery Syed Moazzem Red Crescent Hospital in Barisal on Monday to protest a hike in healthcare charges.
The demonstrators also brought out a procession along the city roads.
Following the action, a memorandum was submitted to the administration demanding the reinstatement of the previous service rates. The protesters also called on the authorities to save the hospital from being turned into a health business centre.
Hundreds of people of all political identities, ages and classes attended the programme organised by Amanatganj Red Crescent Maternity and Child Welfare Center Execution Committee.
The rally was addressed by Prof Golam Kibria Monu, convener of the committee; Ebaidul Huq Chan, district BNP convener; Syed Anis, district AL office secretary; Saidur Rahman Rintu, president, Barisal Chamber of Commerce and Industries; Principal Mohsin Ul Islam Habul; Mokhlesur Rahman, freedom fighter; and Habibur Rahman Tipu, local ward councilor.
The speakers said health was not a personal or special favour, but a basic human right. They said standard health services and facilities should be rendered to all without any discrimination and within the capacity of stakeholders.
The recently inaugurated 50-bed, four-story hospital was the only major health and medical service provider to the low-income grass roots in the northern part of the city, they observed.
The discussants said during its inauguration the hospital was described as a non-profit medical centre, but recently the authorities increased various service charges.
The outdoor fees of the hospital increased to Tk60 from Tk10, and cesarean delivery charges to Tk18,000-20,000 from Tk3,000-4,000.
The participants at the programme demanded immediate restoration of the previous service rates, and free medicare and medicine supply for the poor patients.
The hospital is named after Mrs NR Holling Bery, a shipping agent who owned 1.4 acres of land in Amanatganj area of Barisal district town and opened a 10-bed ‘Coronation Baby Clinic’ and maternity centre there on 27 September 1937.
A labour welfare centre opened on the premises in 1964 and continued to be managed by Pakistan Red Crescent Society and later Bangladesh Red Crescent Society.
Then Holling Bery Syed Moazzem Red Crescent Hospital was constructed at the cost of Tk70m and inaugurated on February 5, 2013.
“The hospital authorities at a meeting on July 7, 2012 decided to increase service charges to meet its management expenditure,” said Syed Moazzem Hossain, donor of the hospital construction and executive chairman of the governing committee.
