A life lost for a vacant ICU

Getting no space at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Salimullah Medical College Hospital (SMCH), relatives of Salma Akter (26) brought her to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) yesterday noon.  

Before coming to DMCH, they were somehow assured that they would get an ICU bed for her at the Covid-19 unit there. But the on-duty doctors could not arrange one for her as just like SMCH, they also had none available. 

And just an hour and 22 minutes later -- at around 2pm, Salma's relatives came out of the hospital with her dead body.

"Mitford [SMCH] doctors referred my wife here [at DMCH]. After the duty doctors referred her to the ICU unit on the second floor, we took her there. But there was no space available," Dalim, husband of the deceased, Salma, told The Daily Star yesterday while preparing to take her body to their village home in Barishal.

They used to reside in the capital's Kamrangir Char area.

Dalim said on Wednesday, Salma was admitted to SMCH as she developed moderate Covid-19 symptoms. She was tested positive for Covid-19 there. From Friday, Salma started to suffer from severe shortness of breath. As there was no ICU bed vacant, doctors referred her to DMCH yesterday.

For the last several days, such harrowing stories have become all too common at the DMCH -- the country's largest hospital.

However, while critical patients like Salma have been struggling for ICU support, 127 ICU beds out of 212 were vacant in DNCC Covid-19 dedicated hospital yesterday.

Experts said having no real-time information on the hospital bed occupancy available publicly has intensified the sufferings of patients during the fresh surge of Covid-19.

With the spike of Covid-19 critical patients, the DMCH authorities have again started struggling to ensure proper treatment to all.

Yesterday, all the 20 ICU beds at the hospital were occupied, according to the data from Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). Meantime, 410 general beds for Covid-19 patients also were occupied.

Including DMCH Covid-19 unit, there are 384 ICU beds in 15 Covid-19 dedicated hospitals or hospital units in the capital.

Of those, only 173 were vacant as of yesterday noon. Meantime, 2,069 general beds out of 3,455 were vacant.

Prof Ridwanur Rahman, an infectious disease specialist, told The Daily Star, "When the infection turns to a prolonged disaster, there will be many such incidents like Salma. Providing real-time information to doctors working in the Covid-19 unit is very much urgent. But the authorities have been reluctant in this regard since the beginning."

It is unfortunate that a patient needs to run from one hospital to another to get an ICU bed, he added.

Asked, Dr Farid Hossain Miah, director of hospitals and clinics at DGHS, said, "We usually instruct the [hospital] directors to check the directorate database before suggesting any referral for a patient. May be some of the doctors do not know about it, but that should not be the case."