The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has decided to start the academic activities of the Bangladesh College of Physiotherapy (BCP) on the same campus of National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation (NITOR) by ignoring the acute shortages of space and physical facilities of NITOR.

Academic council members of NITOR in an application urged the ministry to shift the college to another place.

They said if the activities of the BCP are started on the campus of NITOR then it would seriously hamper the academic activities of the latter. The medical services to the orthopaedic patients would also be hampered, they mentioned.

They demanded of the government to expand the area of the country's only public orthopaedic hospital with a view to easing the increasing pressure from the patients.

Eminent American physician RJ Garst was instrumental in establishing the National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation (NITOR) in 1972. The NITOR is the outcome of the effort of the treatment for the wounded freedom fighters.

Later, a considerable part of its land along with buildings were annexed to the adjacent Child Hospital, said a prominent doctor on condition of anonymity.

He said, presently the country's prime orthopaedic hospital has been facing severe accommodation crisis. As a result the academic activities and dispensing of medical services to the patients are badly hampered.

He said, every day about 500 patients come to NITOR for treatment. But most of the deserving patients cannot be admitted to the hospital due to accommodation problem. Besides, limited resources have also deprived them from availing of proper treatment.

He regretted that only 100 beds have so far been added to the existing ones even after 37 years of NITOR's inception.

The Public Works Department recently has declared the hospital outdoor and paraplegic ward 'risky' and vulnerable.

Academic council members of NITOR said if the undergraduate level physiotherapy course starts on the orthopaedic hospital campus then the post graduate level course of the orthopaedic discipline would be seriously hampered.

They called upon the government to shift the undergraduate level physiotherapy course to another suitable place.