Evercare Hospital Chattogram starts operating without inauguration

Evercare Hospital Chattogram has started operating without waiting for its official inauguration, considering the Covid-19 situation in the country. 

The hospital has been providing both outdoor and indoor health services, including taking in Covid-19 patients since early April, officials said on Tuesday.

Dr Mohammad Fazle-Akbar Chowdhury, general manager, Evercare Hospital Chattagram, told to the media that "although the hospital has not been officially inaugurated, we have been providing outdoor services since 3 April. Also, Covid-19 patients are being admitted from 10 April to indoor departments."

"Currently, we have been treating Covid-19 patients in 45 beds," said Chowdhury, adding that the number of beds will increase gradually if the number of coronavirus infected patients continues to rise.

"We are getting a lot of calls for ICU services. We now have five patients admitted to ICUs (Intensive Care Units). If the demand for ICUs increases, we will increase the number of ICU beds," he continued.

According to Chowdhury, at present, Evercare Hospital Chattogram has five ICU beds and five HDU (High-dependency unit) beds in addition to isolation and general beds for treating Covid-19 patients.

In a press conference last month, Evercare Group's Chief Executive Officer Massimiliano Colella said it is the only 470 bed multidisciplinary super-specialty, tertiary care hospital of international standards in Chattogram.

The hospital, spanning 492,000 square feet, features 27 specialised and sub-specialised departments, including a 24/7 emergency department and emergency services.

"Work has now started with 22 specialist doctors, 61 junior doctors, 130 nurses, and 62 other health workers. More than 500 medical professionals have already joined the hospital. In addition, we have 10 state of the art operating theaters that will be launched soon," said Chowdhury, general manager of the hospital.

Authorities of the hospital hope it will reduce the need for people to seek medical care abroad.

 "Patients are satisfied with the services of our hospital. When the hospital is fully operational, the tendency of the people of Chattogram to go to Dhaka or abroad will decrease. Residents of the city will get state of the art services here," said Chowdhury.

According to officials, Evercare built the hospital with the treatment of heart diseases in mind, given the high incidence of such diseases in Chattogram.

Construction of Evercare Hospital started on 13 September 2014 on about one acre of land in Ananya residential area of Chattogram's Hathazari upazila. The construction cost totalled Tk850 crore.

Evercare Hospital authorities said the hospital will be officially inaugurated after the Covid-19 situation improves in the country.