Ctg civil body opposes move

The government should halt the process of upgrading Chittagong Medical College into a medical university since, if it is turned into a university, poor people will lose access to free treatment in Chittagong, speakers said at a press conference yesterday.
They were addressing the conference organised by Jonoswasthya Odhikar Raksha Committee, a civilian body, at Chittagong Press Club.        
If the college is turned into a medical university then Chittagong Medical College Hospital, affiliated with CMC, will be run by an autonomous body instead of the government and this will deprive the poor of the free healthcare and health services at a nominal cost that government-run hospitals provide, said Dr Sushanta Barua, member secretary of the committee, reading out a statement.
Unlike the capital, Chittagong has no other government medical colleges besides CMC and thus around five crore people living in greater Chittagong will loss access to free healthcare, the speakers said.          
They proposed that the government establish a separate medical university rather than upgrading CMC into one.
The committee threatened to wage tough movement if the government does not take immediate steps to stop the process of upgrading CMC into a university.   
Dr Mahfuzur Rahman, president of the committee, and engineer Subhash Barua, among others, spoke.