Ill-equipped to handle emergencies
Last week, Rima Akter was brought to the emergency unit of Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital in Barisal after she had consumed poison.
Her worried family, hailing from Gouronodi -- around 40km away from the hospital, waited for around 20 minutes to get a stretcher trolley to carry her to the medicine unit on the third floor.
Once they got the trolley, they found out the elevator was not working due to load shedding.
Desperate, her relatives and a hospital staff carried Rima to the third floor as her condition worsened.
But it was too late and she eventually died there. The family claimed that she would have survived if she had got treatment on time. Rima was just 24.
This has become an everyday scenario at the emergency unit as it has only three trolleys for carrying patients whereas some 450 patients throng the unit daily, informed Gazi Ataur Rahman, a staff of the unit. "We need at least nine trolleys to tackle the rush", he said.
Two more trolleys will be added to the fleet soon, said Dr SM Sirazul Islam, director of the hospital, adding, they are also facing a manpower crisis.
Patients need some 15 to 30 minutes to reach the referred wards on trolleys from the emergency room, situated at the west corner of the hospital, as the doctors keep on sending the patient to different wards, said the hospital staff.
But the sufferings worsen when they find that the elevators are not working due to power failures, said patients and their families.
The hospital has 10 elevators, three of which were installed recently. Six elevators operate from the morning till evening, after that two others operate till 10:00pm, while at night one elevator remains open, informed Sanjib Kumar Debnath, sub-assistant engineer (electrical) of Public Works Department (PWD).
“When elevators do not work, we have to carry patients on our shoulders...” said Abdur Rahim, who pushes the stretcher trolleys at the hospital.
Many women have to deliver babies in the emergency room due to the lack of stretcher trolleys and inoperative elevators, said Md Mustafizur Rahman, a senior staff of the hospital.
“I had no other option but to carry my wife to the maternity ward on the third floor,” said Selim, who came to the hospital with his expectant wife.
This correspondent also saw a youth, Sunil, who came from Barguna, carrying his sick mother as he could not find any trolley.
The hospital has two generators; one was established about 45 years ago and another 25 years ago, said Sanjib. “Both are old and in bad conditions. We are continuously requesting the higher authorities for new ones but to no avail.”
“The number of patients and their sufferings are increasing but not our capacity,” he added.
However, many staff complained that the PWD officials randomly switch off the elevators even during regular hours.
According to PWD officials, most of the elevators are old and they need to be stopped frequently for maintenance. They also alleged they are unable to ensure smooth operations as they required 25 elevator operators but had only 15.
Md Osman Gani, executive engineer of PWD, Barisal, said he had asked the higher authorities for increasing the manpower but he was yet to get a response.
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