Patients admitted to the National Institute of Ophthalmology and Hospital and those coming to the hospital for treatment from Dhaka and other districts continued to suffer on Monday as treatment remained suspended for the sixth consecutive day.
Treatment at the hospital, located in Dhaka鈥檚 Agargaon area, was suspended after a clash broke out on May 28 between the hospital staff, outpatients and the July uprising injured who were admitted to the hospital.
During a visit to the hospital on Monday at about 10:00am, patients seeking treatment were seen being turned away by the members of Bangladesh Ansars deployed there.聽
Md Khorshed Alam, additional secretary of the Health Services Division, who visited the hospital with a delegation from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Monday, said, 鈥榃e are working on the issue and hopefully the hospital can be opened soon.鈥�
Following the situation, most of the in-patients have left, but 50 July injured are currently staying at the hospital. 聽聽
Having asked for sincere apology for the disruption in services at the hospital, the the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Saturday requested the patients to seek treatment at the nearby hospitals.
Mostakim, who sustained an eye injury on August 5 in Uttara鈥檚 Azampur and is currently undergoing treatment at the hospital, said that they had provided a list of 10 doctors and staff of the hospital to the July Shaheed Smrity Foundation whom they believe were involved in irregularities and want them removed from the hospital.聽 聽聽
On Wednesday, the hospital鈥檚 staff, doctors, and nurses began a work abstention demanding their security, a day after NIOH director Khair Ahmed Choudhury was besieged for two hours by protesters following suicide attempts by four July uprising survivors on May 25.聽
At one point, a clash broke out among the hospital staff, outpatients and later with those injured in the 2024 July uprising, leaving about 21 injured.
