From screening to eye surgery, it costs Tk 10 at NIO Hospital

Expenses for eye treatment remain quite high across the world and even in Bangladeshi private sector facilities, but the state-run National Institute of Ophthalmology and Hospital (NIOH) is offering eye care services at only Tk 10.

An individual only needs to buy a ticket at Tk 10 at the outdoor unit of the hospital and wait for screening and diagnosis. If the screening finds the patient requires surgery, the patient gets admitted to the hospital, on availability of beds, and undergoes surgery free of cost.

Doctors and officials of the hospital said that on an average every day 1,500 to 2,000 patients visit the hospital’s outdoor department. Among them, the doctors admit those who need it and others are given the necessary treatment. Since its establishment, all the beds at the hospital always remained full and new patients require to wait for the release of an admitted patient.

The 250-bed hospital has nine departments – Cataract, Cornea, Glaucoma, Retina, Oculoplastic, Pediatric ophthalmology, Neuro-ophthalmology, community-ophthalmology and LoVision.

There are also free of cost or low-cost test facilities. The responsibility of the patients ends when they buy a ticket at Tk 10. All other treatments are provided by the hospital free of cost, the officials said. Around 10:00am on Monday, long queues of men and women are seen at the ticket counters and people are required to wait at least 15 minutes in the queue to get a ticket.

After collecting the tickets, the patients again wait in a queue to meet the doctor. There are separate rooms for male and female patients. After the primary screening, the doctors refer the patient to departments concerned for the diagnosis of the disease.

Abdul Mannan, 55, came to the hospital from Barisal with his wife. She had undergone a cataract surgery at a private hospital in Dhaka but still, problems remained in her eye. The couple did not go to the private hospital again because of the high expense rather preferred to have an examination at this hospital at Tk 10.

Doctors and patients said cataract-related problems are common among the patients. Expenses for cataract surgery range between Tk 50,000 to Tk one lakh at the private hospitals with lens and other expenses but in this hospital, the patients get the service at Tk 10.

Mansur Ahmed from Mirpur said he came from Italy in December 2021. He is suffering from severe eye ache as dust and dirt accumulated there. Mansur came to this hospital out of curiosity about its Tk 10 service.

Though he got treatment after waiting 40 minutes in a queue, Mansur was satisfied with the service. “It would not be wise to expect anything more with only Tk 10. The cost of eye and dental treatment in Italy is much high,” he said.

Retina tests are also provided at the hospital free of cost and the cost for the test is over Tk 1,000 at private hospitals or diagnostic centres.

Abu Saeed of Adabar said he came to the hospital to have the test as he does not have enough money.

A messy situation triggered in front of a doctor’s chamber as two patients were quarrelling over breaking the serial in the queue. The patients said the best treatment for eye is available at this hospital and there are good physicians triggering a crowd of patients. Problems arise when everyone needs to wait for long in queues and the elderly people suffer more, they said adding it would be nice if there were more counters and screening chambers.

As the services are better at the hospital, beds are not always available and whenever a patient gets released, the bed gets filled up immediately.

Professor Dr Golam Mostafa, director of the National Institute of Ophthalmology and Hospital, told The Business Post that on an average 1,500 to 2,000 patients receive medical treatment here every day. Patients get all kinds of treatment for eye problems after buying a ticket with Tk 10.

“People with Cataract problems are the majority among the patients at this hospital. They get everything from surgery to installing eye lenses and medicines free of cost. Even when the patient is discharged, the hospital authorities provide the medicines that the patient would need after going home,” he said. Ghulam Mustafa thanked the government and said that they are able to provide the people with better service as the government provides medicines and other supplies as per their demand.

He said they have plans to expand the hospital building and accommodate 500 beds. “Then we will be able to treat more patients,” he added.