A five member Chinese delegation arrived in Dhaka on February 26 to set up a specialized burn unit at Chattogram Medical College (CMC) Hospital. They have been staying in Chattogram since February 28. Going to the hospital every day and discussing with different parties. A few visits were also made to Goachi Bagan for the specialized burn unit.
Dr. Samanta Lal Sen, who is in charge of expanding burn treatment across the country, came to Chattogram along with an architect from the Directorate of Architecture on Saturday. After arriving in Chattogram in the morning, he sat in a meeting with the Chinese team in the conference hall of the hospital. Later proceed to visit Goachi Bagan at the finalized location.
CMC Hospital Director Brigadier General Shamim Ahsan, CMC Principal Professor Dr. Sahena Akhter, Hospital Burn Unit Head Dr. Rafiq Uddin Ahmed, Public Works Division-1 Executive Engineer Rahul Guha, Executive Engineer (EM-1) Mainul Haque, Senior Assistant Architect Siddika of Directorate of Architecture Nasreen Sultana, Assistant Director of the hospital Dr. Rajib Palit, Dr. Ruma Bhattacharya, Administrative Officer Nazrul Islam and others were present.
In the meeting, China Quan Engineering Corporation Business Manager (South Asia) Leo Bo presented the initial proposal for setting up a specialized burn unit.
As per the proposal, the specialized burn unit will have 150 beds. It will have a total of 25 HDUs including 10 ICUs, 5 for children and 2 state-of-the-art operation theatres. Along with the emergency department, there will also be an outpatient department. The proposal has initially mentioned the construction of a 6-storey building. The space per floor of the building will be 16 thousand square feet.
There is a proposal to construct a separate building of 1 storey to house the equipment along with the 6 storey building of the burn unit.
Rahul Guha, Executive Engineer of Public Works Department, said that oxygen plant, sub-station and other necessary equipment including generator will be installed in the one-storey building. A specialized burn unit will be built on an area of about one acre. The Chinese authorities have set a cost of 20 million US dollars (about 120 million yuan in Chinese currency) to implement the entire project. China will make a specialized burn unit at its own expense.
Dr. Samanta Lal Sen said that the Chinese authorities are expected to sign a formal agreement with the Ministry of Health and ERD on the establishment of this specialized burn unit on March 10.
They are eager to start work immediately after signing the contract. For this reason, the Chinese delegation has already requested the removal of various existing installations at the finalized location.
CMC Hospital Director Brigadier General Shamim Ahsan said that the Chinese team has asked to prepare the place as soon as possible. They want to start working.
We are taking necessary measures to explain the place. The representatives of the visiting Chinese team expressed their hope to complete the construction work within the next 2 years and start the service of the specialized burn unit.
