Crisis in Bangladesh leaves many medical tourists stranded in city

Kolkata: Numerous Bangladeshi patients who travelled to Kolkata for medical treatment have found themselves stranded in the city along with their family members.

Amid a crisis in Bangladesh, these individuals and their accompanying relatives are facing significant concern and uncertainty.

With train services between the two countries temporarily suspended, the medical tourists and their relatives who are accompanying them are clueless over what they should do now. “I came here to get my father treated for some ailments and I have been here for the past fortnight. I am stuck here. There is no way I can contact my relatives there in Bangladesh to fill the account,” said a patient’s relative on condition of anonymity. A senior official from a private hospital group in Kolkata on Tuesday said that there are currently around 37 patients from Bangladesh admitted across its units in Kolkata most of whom got admitted earlier this month, or had got their medical visa before the consular services in Dhaka were closed down. On Tuesday, nine patients got admitted, including one kidney transplant patient but they had all got their visas at least a month ago and had prefixed their appointment date.

None of the patients, or their next of kin accompanying them to Kolkata, are willing to talk to the media, sources said. Most of them expressed concern over the situation back home and seemed worried about their extended families remaining in Bangladesh under the current situation in that country.

Indian Railways, too, extended the suspension of the popular Maitree Express, which hasn’t been operating for a fortnight, along with the other two passenger trains linking Bengal with its neighbour. According to sources, there are around 37 guest houses in the Sonali Park area in Mukundapur where around 4,000 Bangladeshi nationals

are living.

Many of them came here for treatment around a month ago while some others have come around 15 days ago. Some of them managed to establish contacts with their family members in Bangladesh while many others failed to talk to their families back home. Though permission has been given to those who have valid visas. They can travel through various borders but train services have been suspended. Uncertainty looms large over bus services.