Setting up a medical college in Ishwardi

We know that the current doctor-patient ratio in Bangladesh is only 5.26 to 10,000. We also know that the physicians who have already earned name and fame are not ready to work in district-level hospitals. Most of them have chambers in Dhaka city's private hospitals, and earn a hefty amount of money every day. In most cases, physicians take only a few minutes to examine or diagnose a patient. By and large, they have become more commercialised. To get over this, we need more physicians and more medical colleges in various locations across the country.

Ishwardi upazila in Pabna district is the centre of a number of businesses in Rajshahi division as its communication with other adjacent areas is good. There is an export processing zone (EPZ), a sugarcane research institute, a lentil research institute and a number of mills and factories. Moreover, the government is building its first nuclear power plant in Rooppur on the east side of the river Padma near Ishwardi. Unfortunately, the healthcare facilities in this upazila are very poor. There is no government medical college hospital in Ishwardi. A 500-bed public hospital along with a medical college is necessary here to provide medical services to the people of this vast area. We urge the government to consider all these points and take immediate steps to establish a medical college in Ishwardi.

Md Muradul Haque Sardar,

Rampura, Dhaka,

fbgp.murad@gmail.com