Chittagong General Hospital is a 250 bedded hospital operating since February 2012 however is located in old hospital, established in 1901. It hosts the medical school. The hospital is situated at the hilly area called ’’Rang Mohler Pahar’’ and serves the diverse population of Chittagong. As the building is an old structure, the Hospital Risk Assessment Planning Workshop was a very informative to way forward for development.

The workshop gathered twenty-five medical practitioner and representatives from different department of the hospital including trained personnel on Hospital Preparedness for Emergencies (HOPE) and Hospital Incident Command System (HICS), courses offered by ADPC. The workshop was based on using the Hospital Safety Index, established by World Health Organization and Pan American Health Organization. Hospital Risk Assessment is an activity under USAID’s Strengthening Earthquake Resilience in Bangladesh (SERB) program. The program aims to enhance capacity of hospital authority for mass casualty management in targeted sixteen hospital of Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet, Mymentsing, Tangail and Gazipur. The expectation is that findings from the risk assessment will be approved by the Hospital authority.

The workshop was inaugurated by Dr Mohammad Sarfaraz Khan Chowdhury, Civil Surgeon and Acting Superintendent, Chittagong General Hospital. In his opening speech he mentioned the importance of as such workshop to raise awareness for future improvement of the hospital. Mr. Sajedul Hasan, Director, ADPC, Bangkok shared Introduction of USAID’s Strengthening Earthquake Resilience in Bangladesh (SERB). He also explained the significance of the workshop was to provide an understanding of hospital risk assessment and safety index, including how to operationalize an assessment by using the index. Dr. Zahidur Rahman, Asst. Professor, National Institute of Preventive and Social Medicine (NIPSOM) facilitated the workshop and assessment process.

At the end of the workshop, all groups presented their findings in front of Dr Mohammad Sarfaraz Khan Chowdhury, Civil Surgeon. In his closing remarks, Dr Chowdhury appreciated the presentation and assured the group of action based on the findings.
Dr. Noor Ahmed, Training Manager from ADPC concluded the workshop by facilitating a plenary discussion and thanking all participants and Hospital management for giving their cordial effort to make the workshop successful.

For further information: contact Subarna Barma. subarna@adpc.net