Illegal parking a lingering menace

Illegal parking of vehicles on both sides of an important road on Mymensingh Medical College Hospital (MMCH) premises is obstructing entrance to the hospital.

The vehicles, mainly cars, CNG-run auto-rickshaws and microbuses of hospital staffers and different pharmaceutical companies, occupy this busy road for several hours during office  time, said hospital sources.

This practice has been going on for years, they added.

The road leads to the hospital store and Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS).  On the suggestion of doctors, hundreds of patients from different areas of Mymensingh visit INMAS for better test results at a comparatively less cost, said the sources.

"It's the only institute in Mymensingh and so the patients from Mymensingh, Jamalpur, Sherpur, Tangail, Netrakona and Kishoreganj are referred here for quality tests and reports," said Dr Motiur Rahman Bhuiyan, president of Bangladesh Medical Association, Mymensingh unit.

Tests, including, blood and hormone test, ultra-sonogram, ECG are conducted at the institute. If the patients' attendants can't move easily, it's difficult for them to get the tests done in due time, he added.

"But due to the illegal parking, we have to struggle often to take patients to the institute on time," said Golam Murtaza, an attendant of a patient.

Even trolley carriers, who have to take medicines and other hospital related commodities to and from the hospital store face trouble due to space constraint during office hours. On different occasions, they informed hospital officials about it, but they didn't take any steps to minimise it, said a trolley carrier.

Besides, private ambulances, which remain parked at the hospital's emergency entrance, create more obstacles, said Abdur Razzaq, an attendant from Netrokona.

CNG and battery-run auto-rickshaws are also seen parked near the emergency gate entrance to get trips for different destinations, said Asma Khatun, an attendant from Jamalpur.

Dr Wayezuddin Farazi, deputy director of MMCH, said they have already initiated a drive to stop such illegal parking, including private ambulances on hospital premises to ensure smooth movement of patients and attendants.