Today is the inauguration of the largest corona hospital in the country

News Desk: Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) Corona Dedicated Hospital will be inaugurated on Sunday (April 18) amidst nationwide outcry over the need for beds and ICU facilities for patients infected with the coronavirus.

Health and Family Welfare Minister Zahid Malek will inaugurate the hospital. However, admission of patients will start from Monday (April 19) morning. The hospital has a 100-bed ICU and 112 HDUs. Also, there is a central oxygen supply system for patients. The hospital is being set up in the Dhaka North City Corporation's (DNCC) Mohakhali Raw Market (6-storey) in an empty 1,060,580-square-foot building, health ministry officials told reporters.

For so long, the market has been used as a corona isolation center and as a corona testing lab for foreigners. Now that the Corona Hospital has started operations, the Corona Isolation Center and the Corona Testing Lab will also run separately for foreigners.

According to the Department of Health, the Ministry of Health has provided 500 doctors, 600 nurses, 600 staff, and medicines and equipment to provide medical services at the specialized hospital. More than a hundred doctors and two hundred nurses have already joined the work. The rest will join the work by Saturday. However, the hospital will be run by the Bangladesh Army, the source said.

Earlier on Friday (April 17), Brigadier General AKM Nasir Uddin, director of the DNCC Dedicated Corona Hospital, told the media that the hospital was scheduled to be inaugurated on Saturday (April 18) but some work remained to be done.

It will be inaugurated on Sunday one day later. For now, only corona treatment will be given in that hospital. However, he said that no operation will be carried out.

On August 9 last year, visit the Corona Isolation Center, DNCC Mayor. Atiqul Islam announced the transformation of the market in Mohakhali into a 500-bed urban hospital. Eight months after the announcement, the DNCC Dedicated Corona Hospital is going to start the treatment of patients with corona.