The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of Bangladesh and China's Ministry of Commerce signed an agreement to set up a 150-bed burn unit at Chattogram Medical College Hospital on Thursday.
Md Anwar Hossain Hawladar, secretary of the health service department of the health ministry, and Yao Wen, ambassador of China to Bangladesh, signed the deal at the meeting room of the health ministry.
According to the agreement, the burn unit will be set up with full support from the Chinese government. All kinds of medical equipment and furniture required for the unit will also be provided by the Chinese government.
The burn unit will have an outdoor, an indoor and an emergency department, 10 ICU beds, 10 HDU beds for men, 10 HDU beds for women and five HDU beds for children.
The construction work of the burn unit will take two years to complete, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said.
"The burn unit at the Chattogram Medical College and Hospital will reduce pressure on the 500-bed Sheikh Hasina Burn Institute in Dhaka. We have also initiated to build five burn institutes in five divisions. With these, there will be seven quality burning institutes in the country ," the minister said.