Rangpur Medical College Hospital
Kidney ward needed
Our Correspondent, Rangpur
A kidney ward is urgently needed in Rangpur Medical College Hospital.
The hospital has a nephrologist, the necessary manpower and several dialysis machines, but there is no separate ward for the treatment of kidney patients.
Sources said that a decision was taken to open a kidney ward in the hospital in 2012. However, this decision was not implemented due to unknown reasons.
The hospital has 16 expensive dialysis machines. Also, nurses specially trained in kidney ailments were appointed in 2012.
In the absence of a separate ward, the doctor and nurses have to sit in a small and congested room. For dialysis, patients suffering from kidney ailments have to stay for at least four hours. Since the hospital has no bed to accommodate them, they have to stay in hotels during the course of their treatment. A patient suffering from kidney failure has to come to the hospital for dialysis twice a week.
Doctors said that about two crore people across the country are suffering from kidney diseases, of which about 12 lakh live in Rangpur. Kidney transplant is the only way to completely treat kidney failure. But poor patients cannot afford the expensive treatment.
Sources said a large number of patients are suffering from kidney diseases in Thakurgaon and Panchagar districts of Rangpur division. Also, patients come to the hospital from remote areas of Rangpur divisional headquarter, even from Bogra, for treatment and dialysis. The absence of a kidney ward in Rangpur Medical College Hospital has increased their suffering. Several patients spoke about their problems to this correspondent at the dialysis unit of the hospital.
