Kolkata hospitals are in trouble as the number of Bangladeshi patients coming for treatment has suddenly dropped. Hospital owners are worried. If patients cannot be won back, business will worsen further in the coming days. Hospital operators are concerned about this and are considering sending delegations to Bangladesh to address the situation.
It is learned that these teams will travel to Bangladesh within the coming weeks to meet with patients and their families. They will help patients and relatives coming for treatment book hotels that have valid documentation and security clearance.
Bangladeshi patients and their families were plunged into a severe crisis after authorities recently shut down most guesthouses in the New Market area. Many patients and relatives were forced to camp out on the streets. Under these conditions, they returned to Bangladesh. Since then, the number of Bangladeshi patients coming to Kolkata has been declining.
Meanwhile, the situation on the ground in the city is quite difficult. A cancer patient from Kushtia was found lying under a mosquito net in front of a shop near Thakurpukur Cancer Hospital. A woman from Rajshahi was there as well. Having suffered extreme hardship, she said angrily that hospitals’ treatment of patients has now become inhumane.
About 700 hotels in the city are currently closed. Authorities recently shut these hotels down abruptly, citing fire-safety shortcomings, unsanitary conditions and similar reasons.
The hotels still operating have no vacancies. To address patients’ severe hardship, Bangladesh’s deputy high commissioner in Kolkata has already held a meeting with hotel owners. They are working to have the closed hotels reopened as soon as possible.
The crackdown on hotels began after a devastating fire at a guesthouse on Free School Street in Kolkata on Aug. 18 killed nine people, including seven Bangladeshis.
Amid this situation, hospitals are also taking steps to retain patients and ease their hardship. B.P. Poddar Hospital, alongside sending a delegation to Bangladesh, is building safe accommodation for patients near its own premises.
Bangladeshis need a medical visa to be admitted to a hospital, though outpatient department (OPD) patients don’t require one. For emergency admissions, medical visas can be obtained on short notice. But many patients under OPD care must stay in hotels for long-term treatment. Ensuring safe accommodation for patients has therefore become extremely urgent.
City hospitals believe many Bangladeshis travel by road for treatment and, in searching for cheap accommodation around Kolkata, often end up in unsafe housing.
It is learned that a team of B.P. Poddar Hospital officials will travel to Bangladesh next week. The hospital is also building its own accommodation for Bangladeshis near its premises in south Kolkata.
Supriyo Chakraborty, the hospital’s group adviser, said they are building a free accommodation facility with safe, orderly security to make patients’ treatment journey easier, which will open very soon.
Woodlands Multispeciality Hospital is also planning to send a team to Bangladesh and has signed agreements with several guesthouses and hotels in the Alipore area.
Ruby General Hospital has opened a separate desk to contact interested patients. Ruby’s chief general manager, Shubhashish Dutta, said they have already begun reaching out and are compiling a list of safe accommodation, helping patients book rooms before they even travel.