A case has been filed against some kidney patients and their relatives who have been protesting the recent hike in dialysis fees at Chittagong Medical College Hospital.
Mostafizur Rahman, sub-inspector (SI) of Panchlaish police station, registered the case against Md Mostakim – a patient – and 50 to 60 unidentified others around 12:30am Wednesday.
Inspector Sadekur Rahman of Panchlaish police station said the case was filed against the patients on charges of assaulting police and obstructing their work.
Five policemen were injured while trying to remove the protesters from the road, he said.
On Tuesday, police detained Mostakim from the CMCH during the patients’ demonstrations blocking the road and obstructing vehicular movement, said Md Nazim Uddin Majumder, officer-in-charge (OC) of Panchlaish Police Station.
The kidney patients and their relatives have been staging demonstrations in front of the dialysis centre of the hospital for the last four days protesting the hike in dialysis fees.
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 Ministry of Health, the 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.
