Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
A Chinese delegation visited the Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH) on September 19, 2016 to inspect possible land for a burn and plastic surgery unit. The vacant land behind the burn unit of CMCH was designated for the unit at that time. On March 28, 2018, the Chinese Embassy in Bangladesh expressed interest in having a specialized 100-bed self-contained burn unit. A design was prepared for a four-storied 100-bed specialized unit on an area of about 4,000 square feet. However, the project stalled when that designated land was found to be smaller than required. Then, in July 2020, the Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh again proposed the construction of a ‘Bangladesh-China Friendship Burn Hospital’ in Chattogram. CMCH authorities subsequently suggested four possible locations. The call for a self-contained burn unit in Chattogram became louder when the port city's hospitals struggled to treat victims of a terrible fire at the BM depot in Sitakunda in June 2022. This prompted the authorities to finalize a plot of land on the northside of CMCH's main dormitory (known as Goachi Bagan) for the burn unit. Then, on March 30, 2023, China’s Ambassador to Bangladesh, Yao Wen, and Bangladesh’s Secretary of Health Services Division from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Dr. Md. Anwar Hossain Howlader, signed an RMB 118 million grant implementation agreement for the the Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH) Burn Unit Construction Project. The purpose of the project is construct a 100-bed burn and plastic surgery unit on the northside of CMCH's main dormitory (known as Goachi Bagan) in Chittagong. In February 2025, the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the building was approved by Bangladesh's Ministry of Environment.