One of the two newly built outdoor buildings of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University at the capital's Shahbagh. Equipped with leading-edge and extended healthcare amenities, these two structures will nearly double the capacity of BSMMU, one of the largest public hospitals in the country. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is scheduled to inaugurate the facilities today. Photo: Star

Today Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University emerges in its new form, equipped with extended and sophisticated facilities and introducing some high-end treatments hitherto unavailable in any public hospital of the country.

Authorities say the addition of two new outdoor buildings, 24 intensive care units (ICUs), 27 operation theatres, and 16 high dependency units (HDUs) makes the country's lone medical university "most modern" government healthcare institution here.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to inaugurate the new facilities at 3:00pm  today.

“Currently around 3,000 patients receive treatment in BSMMU daily. With the inauguration of the outdoor buildings, operation theatres, and ICUs, we will be able to treat over 5,000 people,” said Abu Nasir Rizvi, project director and director (planning and development) of BSMMU.

There are nine leading-edge operation theatres, where "highly sophisticated neurological surgery and kidney and liver transplants" will be done. The OTs are first of its kind in any government hospital in the country, according to BSMMU officials.

In addition, there will be three daycare OTs in the two outdoor buildings from where patients will go back home directly after surgery the same day, saving themselves money and sparing their family members or relatives the hassles of staying in the hospital.

BSMMU authorities said more OTs would be added gradually.

Rizvi said the ICUs and OTs were of international standards and were equipped with infection-control technologies. “Now patients with neurological complications and those requiring liver and kidney transplants won't have to go abroad for surgery," he told The Daily Star.

Another important addition is the one-stop centres at the new outdoor buildings where the reports of all pathological tests will be available. This facility is expected to benefit people hugely, particularly those from far-flung places who earlier needed to shuttle between the outdoor facility and the report collection centres.

At the outdoor buildings, there will be 42 outpatients' departments.

All the services, however, will be available at current rates.

Specialist doctors who see patients at the cabin block now will shift to the new outdoor buildings and will be available from 3:00pm to 6:00pm every day.

TK 500CR PROJECT

The addition, improvement, and modernisation of the facilities at BSMMU, formerly known as PG Hospital, have been carried out under the centre for excellence project starting in 2010.

The government gave Tk 500 crore for the project which includes construction of the outdoor buildings, a medical convocation centre, a building for radiology and oncology, and a dormitory for physicians among others.

However, more than half the works is still incomplete, and surprisingly BSMMU Syndicate members and the treasurer have no knowledge of how the fund was spent, by the project director, Nasir Rizvi.

Syndicate Member Dr M Iqbal Arslan, also secretary general of Bangladesh Medical Association (BMA), said that as per the university act, the treasurer was supposed to look after all financial matters of the institution.

However, BSMMU Treasurer Prof Julfikar Rahman Khan told The Daily Star recently, “I have no knowledge of the development funds. I only handle the revenue budget.”

When asked about his role as per the BSMMU Act-1998, he said he was advised by the authorities to take care of only the revenue budget. He added that he did not know many things about the financial matters.

On the back of this, the syndicate criticised BSMMU Vice-Chancellor Prof Pran Gopal Datta and asked him to place the development budget in the syndicate meeting, but to no avail.

The project director, Rizvi, said around 60 percent of the work of the convocation centre had been completed, while the foundation work of the radiology and oncology building was finished, and construction of the doctors' dormitory had started.

He said a private bank had constructed the nursing institute.