MEDICAL services at the National Institute of Ophthalmology and Hospital, or the National Eye Hospital that provides all types of eye care, have been stalled since May 28. The situation has been so deplorable that the ministry of health has offered an apology and requested patients to seek treatment in other health facilities. Security people deployed there are reported to have turned away people going there to seek treatment. The hospital staff, including eye surgeons and nurses, have abstained from work since May 28 to push for their security after a clash between the hospital staff and the patients injured in the July 2024 uprising and admitted to the hospital. The injured July uprising protesters had besieged the hospital director for two hours after reported suicide attempts by four protesters, reportedly out of disappointment about their demands that include proper treatment, one of whom has recently been treated abroad. Whilst the hospital sources say that 12 people on the staff, including three physicians, were injured in the clash, uprising protesters say that nine of them were injured.
In the meanwhile, people seeking treatment in the hospital have suffered. A major reason for this is that treatment in private hospitals is so expensive that many cannot afford. But what remains unfortunate is that the ministry, the public health authorities, can in no way turn away seekers of medical services and request them to seek treatment elsewhere. This is, first and foremost, a failure of public authorities. They have failed to keep medical services going in a public hospital and they have failed to ensure the security of the hospital staff. They have also failed to resolve the issue in at least four days after the incident. The hospital director is reported to have gone on leave for seven days since the day the trouble broke out. The larger failure of the authorities is, however, related to the treatment of the people who were injured in the July uprising and are now admitted to the hospital. The health managers, or the government for that matter, appear to have failed to properly treat the injured that has led to the misgivings among the uprising patients that have ultimately resulted in the clash.
It has already been about 10 months since the interim government was installed on August 8, 2024 three days after the overthrow of the Awami League government. Yet, the issue of the treatment of the uprising patients has not been resolved. The government should immediately work to resolve the hospital issue and the problems, if any, with the treatment of the people injured in the uprising and their rehabilitation.
