Bangladesh Hospital was a temporary medical centre under the Sector-2 during the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971. The hospital was an initiative of Captain Akhtar Ahmed who was a physician of 4th East Bengal Regiment in Comilla Cantonment.
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It was situated in Agartala of India.
Background
The almost nine-month-long Liberation War of Bangladesh started on March 26, 1971 after the Pakistan Army cracked down on the Bengali population of the then East Pakistan. The Pakistan Army also targeted the Bengali officers and soldiers of the armed forces in all the cantonments across the country.
As a result of s series of systematic terror established by the Pakistan Army, the enraged Bengali military officials and the people of the then East Pakistan revolted against Pakistan and retaliated against the Pakistan Army of occupation.
History
The Bangladesh Hospital started its journey in a cowshed of Shimantopur, a bordering area of Bangladesh, with Captain Akhtar Ahmed on March 29, 1971. The first patient of the hospital was a villager who was shot in his leg by Pakistan Army. Captain Akhtar found Naik Shamsu Miah from East Pakistan Rifles as his assistant.
Later on May 9, 1971, after the 4th East Bengal Regiment had to retreat due to the shortage of ammo, Dr. Ahmed had to shift his hospital to forest rest house of Sonamura of Tripura in India. During those days Nursing Subedar Mannan joined Dr. Ahmed as an assistant. But the very small sized medical centre was suffering from shortages of equipments and other necessary facilities. And Dr. Ahmed who was also appointed as a Company Commander of 4th East Bengal Regiment during the war was thinking of shifting the hospital to a better place.
Shortly after the battle of Shalda River that was held on June 1, Major Khaled Mosharraf realized the need of a hospital in his sector and directed Captain Akhtar Ahmed to establish a hospital with more facilities to operate operations and save the lives of those freedom fighters who were receiving injuries in the war and were dying for want of proper treatment.
Establishment
After getting the order to set up a hospital by the Sector Commander Major Khaled Mosharraf, Captain Akhtar Ahmed shifted his medical centre to Matinagar, adjacent to the Sector-2 headquarters of Agartala. He with his assistants set up a tent in Daroga Bagicha, two miles away from the Melaghar headquarters.
In this process, Dr. Ahmed was accompanied by Captain Dr. Sitara Begum, Saeeda Kamal, Sultana Kamal, a medical student of final year Shamsuddin, Dalia Ahmed, Linu Billah, Habibul Alam; and his two sisters Asma and Reshma.
At the end of June Dr. Zafrullah Chowdhury and Dr. M A Mobin, two Bengali physicians who were studying in London met Dr. Ahmed in Sonamura and inquired him about his needs. Dr. Ahmed asked them to collect some essential medical equipment. They managed a handful of equipments within July.
Later, the Provisional Government of Bangladesh granted BDT thirty thousand for the hospital and Dr. Ahmed set up a 200-bed hospital complex in a litchi forest of Bishramganj in Tripura. The hospital complex started its operation from August 26, 1971.
Dr. Mobin, who was studying for FRCS degree, modernized the operation theatre of the hospital soon. The hospital was transformed into a 400-bed one by the end of the war in December.
Sitara Begum served as the Commanding Officer of the Bangladesh Hospital.
List of Doctors
made this hospital
Recognition
The initiative of Bangladesh Hospital was appreciated by Provisional Government of Bangladesh. After the Liberation War of Bangladesh ended on December 16 of 1971, the Government of Bangladesh awarded Dr. Akhtar Ahmed and Dr. Sitara Begum with gallantry award Bir Protik for their remarkable contribution for the hospital.