I am British but having lived in Bangladesh for a number of years consider myself to be very much Bangladeshi and I am very fond in particular of the rural population of Bangladesh. It is impossible to live in this country and not to be touched by the need to help the poor and to provide facilities and access to facilities for the very poorest in this country.

Valerie Taylor has worked tirelessly for almost 40 years in Bangladesh creating an institution that is known throughout the country. The work of the CRP in reaching out to the poorest in this country and in providing services and medical treatment that are not available anywhere else in the country and providing these to the poorest is legendary. I think there is not a village in Bangladesh which has not heard of Valerie Taylor and the CRP.

It is with great sadness therefore that I read in The Daily Star about the increase in medical charges at the CRP and the marginalisation of the poorest patients. Valerie started the CRP to help the ultra-poor who cannot get medical treatment anywhere else and has raised money tirelessly and successfully over many years to ensure that the poor have access to treatment. Indeed, the land for the CRP-Mirpur centre was donated purely because it would be providing treatment for the poor.

It is essential that the CRP continues to run to serve the purpose for which it was founded - a hospital and rehabilitation centre which is accessible to all in this country and not only the rich.