SBMCH extension building lies incomplete for nine yrs
A two-year project to construct an extension building of Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital (SBMCH) in Barisal has not been completed in nine years, multiplying the accommodation crisis.
The construction of the five-storey building was left in such a state five years back with only 60 percent work done.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. Consequently, the hospital is facing a pressure of patients beyond its capacity every day, hospital sources said.
About 1,700 to 2,000 patients are generally admitted to the hospital where it can accommodate only 1,000, said SBMCH Director Dr Serajul Islam.
Besides, 4,000 to 5,000 outpatients are given treatment on a daily basis, he added.
Rajia Sultana, 25, who came from Jhalakathi for her mother's treatment, said, “We have been staying on the floor for two days as we did not find any bed in the female medicine ward.”
Like Rajia's mother, a lot of patients were seen lying on the floor.He said Azad Construction, an engineering firm, got the tender of the Tk 20-crore project financed by Public Works Department.
Starting on December 12, 2008, the project work was supposed to be finished within the next two years and two months.
Later, the duration of the project was extended by one and a half years following an appeal made by the contractor, said the director.
At the beginning of 2011, the contractor appealed further to revise the project as its cost increased by that time.
However, the application was not accepted, said Dr Serajul, adding, the tender agreement with the contractor was cancelled on August 8, 2012.
Over one month later, the contractor filed a writ petition with the High Court against the cancellation order, said the director. In early 2016, the writ petition was rejected, he said.
Since then, a process to offer a re-tender has been going on and the health minister, at a July 23 meeting, assured that the work would start within six months.
The medical college hospital was established in 1968 with 500 beds. In 2013, the beds were increased to 1,000 without increasing the required infrastructures, said Serajul Islam.
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