Vehicular movement near Chattogram Medical College and Hospital (CMCH) and adjacent areas remained suspended for two and a half hours on Tuesday as a number of kidney patients and their relatives blocked the road in front of the hospital protesting the hike in kidney dialysis fees.
Alauddin Talukdar, assistant sub-inspector of CMCH police camp, said hundreds of patients and relatives took to the streets around 11:30am and put up barricade on the road, disrupting vehicular movement in the area.
The kidney patients and their relatives have been staging demonstrations for the last couple of days protesting the hike in dialysis fees in front of the dialysis centre of the hospital.
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Later, the protesters withdrew the blockade around 2pm considering the public suffering.
They also threatened to continue their demonstrations until the authorities concerned take any steps to restore the previous fee.
The protesters said a patient needs dialysis eight times a month and they have to pay Tk 2,795 the first two times and Tk 510 for each of the rest.
Now the hospital authorities raised the fee to Tk 2,935 and the patients have to pay it four times and Tk 535 for each of the rest of the dialysis in a month, they said.
Kidney Dialysis Centre was launched at the hospital under the public-private partnership project in 2017 and it is now operating with 32 dialysis machines.
According to the agreement with the health ministry, Indian company Sandor will continue its operations at this centre for ten years. The institution will use government space for this. A patient has to pay about Tk 3,000 against kidney dialysis each time.
