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According to the hospital administration, the 500-bed hospital was handling 1,045 patients as of Saturday noon, and since the hospital’s capacity is overextended, the authorities conceded that they can only offer “50 percent of the usual services”
Published : 09 Jul 2023, 02:27 AM
[Disclaimer: The real names of the patients and their family members have not been disclosed to protect patient confidentiality.]
For Samina Yasmin (not her real name), this month should have been one of the most crucial in her life as she is about to sit the HSC examinations scheduled to begin next month.
However, instead of preparing for the weeks-long examination, the young adult from Dhaka’s Maniknagar ended up in Mugda Medical College Hospital, or MuMCH, with symptoms like high fever, body ache and swollen stomach.
All of these are considered tell-tale symptoms of dengue.
This bdnews24.com correspondent spotted Samina lying unconsciously on the corridor of the hospital's third floor on Saturday noon, with saline drips entering her body from an intravenous bag hanging close by so that the teenager remained hydrated.
Samina’s mother, Huamyra Begum (not her real name), was exasperated as she dragged her ill daughter back and forth from one floor to another of the hospital for the tests the doctors ordered.
“We were assigned a bed on the eighth floor [of the hospital]. After making their rounds in the morning, the doctors ordered eight tests. Since then, I've been hauling her from one floor to another to complete the tests. Both of us have no energy left to stand in the elevator queue to reach the eighth floor; hence we are here [on the third-floor corridor],” she said.
Humayra, a widow since 2010, felt sick to her stomach as her severely ill daughter’s bed was situated nearby an overflowing and smelly toilet.
“Since last night, my stomach has been upset after continuously inhaling the filthy air of the floor. Due to the smell, my daughter could not take a single bite of any food to energise herself.”
Moreover, according to the single mother, the floor was heavily occupied by droning mosquitoes, the flying insect that presumably caused her daughter’s illness.
Zohur Islam (not his real name), another dengue patient’s attendant, who had been supporting the mother and the daughter since morning for the tests, accused the doctors in the hospitals of their lack of sincerity and cooperation.
“We are not allowed to speak to them [the doctors], and even if we do regardless, they don’t listen to us. They come and go as they please. Since yesterday, I have only seen doctors making one round this morning,” he said.
Zohur, who has been staying in the hospital for the last three days, sounded more furious while describing the attitude of nurses in colourful details.
“The nurses are very aggressive here. The only language they speak is rude.”
LATEST DATA ON DENGUE PATIENTS
- As of Saturday morning, the number of dengue hospitalisations this year has reached 12,118, and the death toll was 67.
- In 2020, 1,405 people contracted the disease at the peak of the coronavirus pandemic, and no one died. The number of reported hospitalisations was 28,429 in 2021, with 105 deaths. In 2022, there were 62,382 dengue hospitalisations nationwide, with 181 deaths. Dhaka alone saw 39,220 patients admitted to hospitals.
A WORN-OUT HOSPITAL FULL OF DENGUE PATIENTS
The stories of Samina, Humayra and Zohur were not outliers.
Since the deadly virus started spreading like wildfire in June, the MuMCH has become the go-to state-run medical facility for dengue patients as data indicates the majority of hospitalised patients in Dhaka live within the catchment area of the hospital, which is situated under the Dhaka South City Corporation.
This year, authorities have been struggling to offer even the basic patients’ needs as the number of patients already surpassed the hospital's capacity.
According to the hospital administration, the 500-bed hospital was treating 1,045 patients as of Saturday noon.
Dr Md Niyatuzzaman, the hospital's acting director, said the hospital's capacity is overextended, but his human resources are limited, which was why the hospital could only provide “50 percent of the usual services”.
The scenario at the paediatrics unit on Saturday was indicative of the hospital’s worn-out services.
Since the hospital ran out of beds to fill, the hospital administration put mattresses on the unit's floor, situated on the eighth floor, and each mattress covers at least two children patients.
Sufiya Khatun (not her real name), the mother of a 2.5-year-old dengue patient at the unit, was unhappy with the overall situation.
“If I could have afforded it, I would have gone to a private clinic instead with my baby. The condition is horrendous here,” she said.
Dr Niyatuzzaman explained why his administration has been struggling to offer adequate services at the paediatrics unit.
“At least 25 percent of the dengue patients admitted at the hospital in the last two weeks are children, and some of those are even newborn babies. Today’s data indicates that the hospital is treating 341 adult patients and 95 children. Our capacity has already maxed out,” he said.
From Sunday, the schools in Dhaka will go back to session after the Eid-ul-Azha vacations, and the MuMCH director was worried that the number of child patients may rise exponentially.
“The school authorities need to be mindful of the children’s health and keep the surroundings of the campus clean and remove any stagnant water. Since the children will spend at least four to six hours a day in schools, the risk of them catching the virus without protection is seriously high, which is why the parents of every school-going child must consider making their children wear full-sleeve clothing.”
THE DILEMMA OVER MOSQUITO NETS
Although the patients and their attendants left no stone unturned while unloading their grievances against the hospital authorities, the doctors, and the members of the staff, they all seemed the have an aversion against using mosquito nets, which health experts constantly highlight for protection against bites from Aedes aegypti mosquito, known carrier of the deadly virus.
Hardly any of the patients and their attendants in the hospital were found using the nets provided by the hospital.
When asked, most of them came up with the excuse of the heat and lack of ventilation inside the units, which resulted in a “claustrophobic atmosphere”.
Sufiya was trying to make her baby comfortable by using a hand fan and using it to swat mosquitoes as well.
“Look at this. They [the hospital] have provided the net but did not provide any way to hang those. Moreover, with so many people within the ward, the atmosphere is claustrophobic here, which is why I am using the hand fan to drive the mosquitoes away,” she said.
The excuse was seconded by Umme Habiba (not her real name), another mother who has been in the hospital with her six-year-old son.
“My son starts sweating as soon as I put up the net, which is why I avoid it,” she said.
Dr Niyatuzzaman said his staff tried hard to make the patients and their attendants understand the importance of mosquito nets but regrettably failed.
“We try our best to keep the premises [of the hospital] neat and clean, which is why you will hardly see any mosquitoes here. However, there are still some, which is why my staff even help patients to put the nets on. As soon as nurses or the staff leave, the net is nowhere to be found within the next 10 minutes.”
MUMCH LACKS RESOURCES TO BATTLE DENGUE
Admitting his lack of human resources, which hindered the efforts to provide good medical services to the dengue patients, Dr Niyatuzzaman said he reached out to Bangladesh health authorities seeking additional medical staff.
“I wrote to the ministry [Bangladesh Ministry of Health] and the DG [the director general of the Bangladesh Directorate General of Health Services] asking to assign at least ten specialist doctors, 20 medical officers [resident doctors] and 50 nurses additionally for the hospital, considering our situation. The authorities could afford only eight doctors and eight nurses, which is why I am failing to provide the services the patients need,” he said.
Regarding the allegations of the unavailability of doctors making rounds and the careless attitude of the nursing staff, the MuMCH director said: “Let's do the math here. For every 145 patients, I need a team of 10 nurses. However, I can afford a team of five nurses instead. This means each nurse is taking care of 30 patients; for the nurse, even if he/she spends two minutes with each of their assigned patients, it will take an hour to visit the last patients on her rota. They are exhausted at the moment.”
[Writing in English by Adil Mahmood]
