A 10-story hospital will be built in Nilphamari with China's grant

A specialised hospital with a thousand beds, funded by China, will be built in the Nilphamari district of northern Bangladesh.

The Ministry of Health has announced that after examining and assessing applications and locations from at least 20 districts, including Thakurgaon, Rangpur, and Panchagarh, this district was chosen for the hospital's construction.

The Health Secretary, Saidur Rahman, told Prothom Alo that there is no good hospital for healthcare in Nilphamari.

Therefore, this hospital, funded by China, is being built in Nilphamari. The Chinese government will provide the infrastructure, while the government will recruit personnel.

According to sources from the Ministry of Health and the Planning Commission, the total cost for the construction of this hospital is estimated to be Tk 22.92 billion. Of this, the Chinese government will give a grant of Tk 22.19 billion, with the remaining Tk 730 million provided by the government.

The project is expected to be approved at the upcoming last Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) meeting of the interim government next week. Once approved, the Directorate General of Health Services will implement the project by 2028.

Two years ago, the Chinese government expressed interest in establishing a specialised hospital in Bangladesh. At that time, the Ministry of Health received several applications from various districts for the construction of the hospital.

People from Thakurgaon, Rangpur, and Panchagarh even held rallies and human chains, requesting that the "Bangladesh-China Friendship General Hospital" be built in their districts.

Additionally, people from other districts also raised demands for the hospital to be established in their areas.

There were extensive discussions on where the hospital should be located. Ultimately, the Ministry of Health included Nilphamari among the proposed districts.

On 18 January, a Project Evaluation Committee (PEC) meeting was held at the Planning Commission regarding the "Bangladesh-China Friendship General Hospital" project.

According to meeting sources, the main building of the hospital under this project will be 10 stories high. There will be a separate 10-story building for professors and senior doctors to see patients, where the doctors will also reside.

Additionally, there will be a 6-story dormitory for nurses and a 10-story building for other staff. There will be a building for waste management, a service building, a helipad, and an automated ambulance system available at the hospital.

Reviewing the project documents revealed that Tk 9.45 billion will be spent on purchasing medical equipment, Tk 8.02 billion on building construction, and Tk 2.48 billion on solar panels, CCTV, and other ancillary works.

However, officials from the Ministry of Health have stated that the hospital's operating system has not yet been finalised.

To determine which district would be suitable for the hospital, the Ministry of Health conducted a survey through the National Academy for Planning and Development (NAPD), a government institution.

The reasons for choosing Nilphamari based on that survey include the presence of an international airport and railway junction in the district.

The district has a comparatively higher population living below the poverty line. The number of patients suffering from diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, kidney issues, maternal and neonatal complications, dengue, and diarrhea is increasing in this district.

Being a border district, it exhibits a higher tendency for cold spells, floods, and river erosion. Economically, the district lags behind. Patients from Nilphamari and surrounding areas have to travel 50 to 70 kilometers to Rangpur Medical College Hospital, increasing time, cost, and risks for the patients.

Additionally, it was difficult to find government-owned land in other districts. More land than required is available in this district, eliminating the need for new land development. The district also has good connectivity with other regions. For these reasons, Nilphamari was chosen for the specialised hospital.

The hospital will be constructed on 25 acres of vacant land at the site of an old textile mill in the municipal area of Nilphamari district. The Darwani Textile Mills was established on 108.52 acres of land in 1980, but its operations have gradually become limited.

Adjacent to it is a Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) camp, and nearby is the Uttara EPZ, where citizens from China, the investing country, work in multiple companies.

If the hospital is established at the proposed location, all the people in the area, including the Chinese nationals residing in the EPZ, will benefit from healthcare facilities.

The NAPD survey shows that the current population of Nilphamari district is 2,092,568. According to WHO standards, a hospital with 4,500 to 6,000 beds is necessary for this large population. Currently, the district has a 250-bed general hospital on which the people rely. The population of Nilphamari and the northern region is 17,610,956.

The survey indicates that if the specialised hospital is operational, it could serve 6,000 to 9,500 people daily. The number of admitted in-patients could be 800 to 1,000.

Out-patient services could see 1,800 to 2,350 patients daily, requiring about 1 to 1.5 thousand doctors, nurses, and staff.

The survey provided an estimate of potential patient expenses. It stated that the fee for visiting a doctor at an outpatient department would be Tk 50 to 100.

Specialist fees at outpatient departments would be Tk 100 to 300.

Emergency department fees would range from Tk 100 to 200. Preliminary blood and urine tests would cost between Tk 250 and 500.

The cost for specialised diagnostic tests could be between Tk 5,000 and 10,000.