DCMCH: A name built in community healthcare

Dhaka Community Medical College & Hospital has become a common household name among a large number of patients in Dhaka city due to its quality services provided at a very affordable cost. Medical treatment is simply a business now as almost all the private hospitals and clinics are providing the services at a very high cost, but Dhaka Community Hospital is an exception.
The patients can receive treatment here at a nominal rate with an admission fee of Tk 50 only. A general bed costs Tk 100, special bed Tk 250, cabin Tk 1200, VIP cabin Tk 3000, and major operation charge Tk 6,000. The pathology charges and prices of medicines are also insignificant at the hospital.
The hospital has earned its international exposure for its quality research on arsenic.
The Dhaka Community Hospital (DCH) was founded in 1988 by the DCH Trust, as a non-profit organisation. The DCH Trust has developed various urban and rural models of community health care along with other health care programmes since 1988. The objective of this Trust is to establish a successful model of affordable and better health care for the common people in the country.
 Professor Quazi Quamruzzaman, Chairman of the Trust, started this project as a 20-bed hospital. He is a freedom fighter. He is also a renowned pediatric surgeon in Bangladesh and abroad. He is a pioneer in pediatric surgery in the country and was the president of Society of Pediatrics Surgery.
The Trust from its early days engaged itself in teaching and training of health manpower and started an Institute of Community Health to produce various levels of health manpower. The DCMCH gradually grew into a 500-bed modern tertiary care centre under the professional guidance of the Trust and hard work of its members. Dhaka Community Hospital always remembers the contribution of Mr. Jalal Uddin Khandoker, a national sports personality and social worker, who contributed and worked with great compassion during the formative stage of the patient-friendly hospital.
DCMCH was established in 2008. The DCMCH offers five years' MBBS course and BDS course. The course is approved by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare. This college is affiliated with the University of Dhaka and recognised by the Bangladesh Medical & Dental Council. Now a total of 500 students are studying medical science at the college. Of them 20 are from Nepal.
The writer is executive editor of Notun Diganta,
a literary journal, Email: mibabla71@gmail.com