Fortis opens first cardiac centre in Bangladesh
India's Fortis Escorts Heart Institute opened its Bangladesh unit yesterday, aiming to provide cost-effective cardiac care service. Fortis will manage and operate the 42-bed centre set up by AFC Health Ltd, a concern of Bangladesh-based Active Fine Chemicals, at Sonadanga in Khulna at a cost of around Tk 30 crore.
The 23,000-square-foot centre will offer diagnostic services such as angiography to detect heart diseases as well as varied treatment options, including artificial pacemaker, coronary artery bypass, valve replacement and periphery bypass surgery.
“I would like to dedicate this cardiac centre to the people of Bangladesh,” said Ashok Seth, chairman of the Institute.
The centre will also educate masses to follow a healthy lifestyle, he said.
AFC Health has set up the centre in Khulna as the southern part of the country lacks such facilities, SM Saifur Rahman, managing director of AFC Health, told The Daily Star recently.
Around 1.5 crore people in the region are vulnerable to heart diseases, he said, adding that many patients cannot go to the capital in time for better treatment.
The country has a huge demand for cardiac institutes as the number of such patients is increasing rapidly, Rahman said.
On an average, 10 Bangladeshi patients get treatment from Fortis Escorts in India every day, Rahman said. “The patients in Bangladesh will now get such treatment on their doorsteps.”
The costs in the centre will be 15 percent lower compared with other such hospitals in Bangladesh, he said.
The centre will reimburse patients or take no charge for the last day of their stay if they die in the hospital, Rahman said.
AFC Health and Fortis have been working on the project for more than a year and signed an agreement in July.
Mashiur Rahman, prime minister's economic affairs adviser; Sandeep Chakravorty, Indian deputy high commissioner in Dhaka; and ABM Ghulam Mostafa, chairman of AFC Health, were also present at the opening.
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