Government of Bangladesh and UNHCR establish a specialized hospital in Ukhiya

Dhaka, Bangladesh – A new specialized hospital in Ukhiya funded by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, will begin operations following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief today. 

The Ukhiya Specialized Hospital was constructed and equipped by UNHCR to provide timely specialist interventions for patients in need of life-saving interventions and those who require secondary care. The hospital will provide health services for both the Bangladeshi host community and Rohingya refugees living in the adjacent camps. 

On Thursday, Dr. Md, Anwar Hossain Howlader, Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), Md. Kamrul Hasan ndc, Secretary, Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief (MoDMR) and Johannes Van Der Klaauw, UNHCR Representative, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), committing UNHCR to build the premises of the hospital, provide all necessary equipment and contribute initially to the personnel costs. The new facility will be called “Ukhiya Specialized Hospital”. The MoU also stipulates that MoHFW will progressively take over the management of the facility and the costs for all human resources, and take full responsibility by the end of a three-year period.

The hospital will provide outpatient services for surgery, trauma care, eye and dental care, physiotherapy and palliative care, while it also includes a 24/7 emergency unit, state-of-the-art laboratory and diagnostic facility. 

Medical and support staff from MoHFW and UNHCR partner organizations Gonoshasthaya Kendra (GK), Relief International and Orbis will provide services at the hospital.

One specific feature of the hospital is the provision of telemedicine services through virtual consultations and guidance by qualified specialists from the MoHFW and UNHCR’s partner. These services cover inter alia internal medicine, surgery, orthopaedics and gynaecology. Similar telemedicine services have been initiated as of 18 June by MoHFW through the Civil Surgeon in Noakhali district for Rohingya refugees living on Bhasan Char. 

UNHCR and the Government of Bangladesh have a long-standing operational partnership to improve and expand health service delivery in the Cox’s Bazar district, including through infrastructure development and reinforcing the quality of services. UNHCR established and supported the running of the first Intensive Care Unit and the High Dependency Unit and Severe Ward in Sadar District Hospital in Cox’s Bazar. UNHCR is currently completing a major outpatient wing of this hospital. UNHCR and humanitarian partners have established 14 COVID-19 isolation and treatment centres in the Rohingya refugee camps and host community.

For additional information, please contact:

• Regina De La Portilla, Communications Officer, [email protected]; +880 1 847 327 279