Red Crescent Hospital in Barisal closed sine die

Holling Bery Syed Moazzem Red Crescent Hospital in the city has suspended medical services as doctors and staff working there resigned en masse following non-payment of their salaries for the last four months.
The hospital entrance has remained locked since Tuesday when 20 admitted indoor patients were released and outdoor activities closed.
"Fifty-seven personnel, including 5 doctors, 12 nurses and 40 staffs of the hospital, resigned by Monday as they did not get their salary after November 2013. No fund for the purpose was sent despite repeated appeal," said Enayet Karim, acting officer in charge of the hospital.
N R Holling Bery, a shipping agent, founded 'Coronation Baby Clinic', on 1.4 acres of land at Amanatganj of the then Barisal district town in 1937 and later it continued to be managed by Pakistan Red Crescent Society and then Bangladesh Red Crescent Society.

Following construction of a new four-story building of the establishment at a cost of Tk 7 crore with donation from Syed Moazzem, it was inaugurated as 'Holling Bery Syed Moazzem Red Crescent Hospital' on February 5 in 2013, said Iqbal Hossain Forkan, president of the hospital management committee and acting president of Barisal unit of Red Crescent.
Earlier on July 7, 2012, the hospital management committee at a meeting decided to fix 'reasonable' service charges for bearing a minimum management cost for the non-profit organisation.
But after inauguration of the new building, a section of locals protested the provision of service charges and declared donor Syed Moazzem as persona non grata.
"Consequently, the donor, who had spent more than 8 crore taka for the building construction and other purposes, suspended his help in November 2013. Red Crescent Society also failed to provide funds for running the hospital," Forkan said.