‘Increase manpower, support to tackle it’

Doctors at Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital (SBMCH) have called for ensuring manpower and necessary support to sustain health services at the facility, especially for Covid-19 treatment.

They said this at a meeting with the high-level officials when they visited SBMCH and Barisal General Hospital on Sunday.

Divisional Commissioner Saiful Islam Badal, Divisional Health Director Dr Basudeb Kumar Das, Deputy Commissioner Jasim Uddin Haider, Civil Surgeon Dr Manowar Hossain, and city corporation CEO Faruk Hossain visited the establishments and spoke to doctors.

SBMCH Indoor Doctors Association President Dr Sudip Haldar said only  136 doctors are working at the hospital, when the total posts for  doctors is 224. Fewer than half of the total third- and fourth-class  staffers are working at the hospital. In the Covid-19 ward, a huge number visitors are coming and going. If manpower is not increased, proper Covid-19 treatment cannot be ensured, he added.

Dr Abdur Razzak, deputy director of the hospital, said, "There are no specialists and technicians to operate the 12 ICU units [at the hospital]."

The entire hospital is filled with garbage but the city corporation is not taking it away, he said. In response, the city corporation CEO said general staffers are wary about handling medical waste, especially since they are coming from Covid-19 infected patients. It should be the hospital's job to set up a system for proper medical waste handling. Even then, the corporation will start disposing of the waste soon.

SBMCH Assistant Director Maniruzzaman Shahin said they are barely able to handle the pressure at Covid ward.

Hospital director Dr AHM Saiful Islam said, "Even though we are providing service with a small manpower, it's not possible to keep this up for a long time. Please, increase required manpower and logistical support."

The divisional commissioner said, "We have already sent a demand letter to the ministry regarding manpower and other support."