The five-storey hospital built under a 1998 project on 1.91 acres of land will now come to the aid of hundreds of asthma patients who had to seek treatment at the only state-owned asthma centre at a small corner of the ICDH run by a group of dedicated volunteer doctors of the institute.

The PM will also lay foundation stone of the National Academy of Health Management next to the Infectious Disease Hospital also located nearby.

Health Minister Dr Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Health Secretary AFM Sarwar Kamal, Bangladesh Medical Association (BMA) President Professor MA Hadi, BMA Secretary General Dr AZM Zahid Hossain will be present among others at the opening ceremony.

Roughly a hundred patients used to visit the tiny ICDH centre every day during peak season--October to January--to seek treatment mostly for illness from asthma. Limited bed capacity and poor equipment facilities, however, forced many patients to wait in queue until their turn came.

"We are happy to announce that a separate asthma centre is finally starting its journey," said Dr Zahurul Islam Shakil, member secretary of the project implementation committee.