Bangladesh’s first super specialized hospital, scheduled for opening at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University on August 28, promises to revolutionize healthcare in the country. Ahead of the inauguration, Dhaka Tribune spoke with BSMMU Vice-Chancellor Dr Md Sharfuddin Ahmed and other health experts to find out what makes the hospital unique.
According to the BSMMU VC, one of the main reasons the hospital has been labelled as a super specialized hospital is that it will offer certain medical services that are not available at most general hospitals of the country, such as bone marrow and gene transplantation.
Nano technology-based medical services and robot-assisted surgery will also be introduced at the super specialized hospital in the near future, he added.
Not only will the new hospital provide these rare medical facilities, but it will also be optimized for the convenience of patients.
“Radio scans, CT scans and MRI facilities will be provided from one centre at this hospital. In comparison, one has to travel almost a mile to avail all these facilities at Dhaka Medical College Hospital,” Dr Sharfuddin said.
A state-of-the-art Hospital Information System (HIS) will include a Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) and Order Communication System for the management of patients, allowing for advanced electronic medical reports and integrated appointment management through an app.
“At present, most critical patients of our country go to India, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, or Europe as these countries have a reputation for high-quality treatment facilities. The super specialized hospital will provide international standard facilities to these patients right here at home,” the BSMMU VC added.
He noted that expenses related to the services offered at the super specialized hospital are yet to be determined, but most of the procedures to be offered there are quite expensive.
“Around 700,000 Bangladeshi people go outside the country for medical care each year and spend $3.5 billion,” said public health expert Dr Tarek Hossain, who has worked with UNICEF and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
“Bangladeshi medical tourists go to India in the largest numbers, an estimated 425,000 patients each year. According to Bangladesh Bank, Bangladeshis abroad spent $2.2 million in the 2018-19 fiscal year, $1.6 million in FY2019-20 and $1.6 million in FY2020-21,” added Dr Tarek.
State-of-the-art facilities
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina laid the foundation stone of the hospital at BSMMU on September 13, 2018. A nine-storey hospital building has been constructed and medical equipment has been procured.
The 750-bed hospital was funded by low-interest loans from the Economic and Development Corporation Fund (EDCF) Korea. The total cost was Tk1,100 crore.
The loans are to be repaid in 40 years, the grace period being 15 years.
The structure of the hospital has been constructed by Hyundai Development Company and the medical equipment supplied by Samsung C&T Corporation. The hospital was designed and its construction was supervised by Sunjin Engineering and Architects.
The hospital will include five specialized centres: a Cardio and Cerebrovascular Centre, Hepatobiliary and Liver Transplant Centre, Mother and Child Health Care Centre, Kidney Disease Centre, and Accident and Emergency Centre.
There are provisions for VVIP/ VIP cabins, isolated cabins, wards, a surgical intensive care unit (SICU), medical intensive care unit (MICU), coronary care unit (CCU), neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), and paediatric intensive care unit (PICU), among others.
The 100-bed ICU unit will include 25 beds dedicated for surgical patients, 25 beds for medical patients, 25 beds for cardiac patients, 15 beds for neonatal and 10 beds for paediatric patients.
This super-specialized hospital also has 10 modular operation theatres where critical operations can be performed with modern tools and equipment.
Foreign and local specialized doctors and academics will attend the hospital for special medical consultancy and surgical operations. For smoother operations and management of the hospital, local physicians, doctors, medical staff, and administrative personnel are being trained by experts from Korea.
A total 56 health specialists of Korea will work in the hospital for two years from its opening.
