"Until recently the space in front of the hospital was abandoned. There was a heap of rubbish, and mosquitoes and flies buzzed there all the time. Out of the idea of making the surroundings beautiful, a flower garden has been made there, and those abandoned spots are now full of colourful flowers." So says Dr Zakir Hossain, junior medicine consultant at Jhenaidah Sadar Hospital, who took charge at the hospital on 16 April last year.

"Patients used to dump rubbish on the abandoned land in front of the hospital. Mosquitoes and flies bred there, and it even smelled. I saw it every day going to and from the hospital, and such an environment made patients uncomfortable when they entered," Dr Zakir Hossain said.

"Towards the end of last year I decided to make the surroundings in front of the hospital beautiful. No sooner thought than done: on my own initiative, with help from the hospital's doctors, nurses and other officers and staff, I built a flower garden," he said.

According to hospital sources, the garden has 20 species of flowering plants, including roses, marigolds, hibiscus, dahlias and Christmas flowers. There is also a herb garden next to the hospital mosque. Slabs have been laid over the drain that carried the hospital's dirty water, and flower pots have been arranged on top.

"A garden on abandoned land deserves praise. Every hospital badly needs such a beautiful flower garden, for the patients and the hospital," said local resident Md Delwar Hossain.

Patients and their relatives said: "Before, as soon as we entered the hospital we smelled medicine and rubbish. Now when we go inside we smell colourful flowers, and it lifts our mood."

"The flower garden was built on the abandoned land in front of the hospital through the sincerity, goodwill, financial support and planning of the hospital's junior medicine consultant Dr Zakir Hossain," said Dr Ayub Ali, superintendent of the Sadar Hospital.

"Since the garden was made, the look of the hospital has changed. Where there was a bad smell, the scent of flowers now spreads. Every day 2,000 patients come to the outpatient department for treatment and enjoy the beauty of the garden. Staff tend the plants regularly," he said.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.