Surgery patients overrun Nitor

Patients had to queue up and wait long hours to undergo surgery at the National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation (Nitor) during this Eid vacation as there was a shortage of doctors, nurses and staffers on the occasion.

Due to the crisis, the patients coming from across the country in the capital received only emergency treatment, according to Nitor staff. During a visit to the hospital, the correspondent found many patients queuing up for their turn in front of the operation theatre. 

Only on Eid day, the doctors performed 78 surgeries, according to the register book.

At the operation theatre, only one doctor in anaesthesia was available during Eid holidays. On a normal day, anaesthetists work in shifts. So there was a pressure on the operation theatre during the holiday, said the hospital doctors.

The staffers at Nitor do an eight-hour shift. However, Shodan Baidya, a male nurse at Nitor, said he did two shifts including morning and night before the Eid day in the emergency department as there was a shortage of nurses.  

There are 327 nurses at Nitor but only 60 non-Muslim and six Muslim nurses were on duty during the Eid holidays.

Arif Kazi, attendant of an inpatient, said his nephew Masum Kazi was beaten by some miscreants in Terokhada of Khulna on Eid day. He was first taken to Khulna sadar hospital. Due to a shortage of doctors there, they referred him to Nitor.

Masum was admitted on Sunday, the day after Eid day. He underwent two surgeries at intervals because the doctors had to attend to other emergency patients as well.

"The whole procedure takes time, so patients suffered a lot," said Arif.

Nitor staff said during Eid vacation, they saw more patients coming from outside Dhaka as most of the local hospitals gave limited service on this occasion.

On the day before Eid day, 183 patients came to receive emergency treatment, according to the hospital. On Eid day, the number was 145, and the next day it was same as before. On a usual day, the number of patients stands at 130 to 140 in the emergency department.

Not only has the hospital suffered from a shortage of doctors and nurses, but many necessary tasks including doing x-rays or blood tests, required before performing surgery, were hampered because there was not enough staff to do the job.

Meanwhile, patients of several public hospitals alleged that the hospital authorities released a huge number of patients before Eid holidays although they were not fully cured.

A week back, Dr Samir Kanti Sarkar, director (admin) of the Directorate General of Health Services, told The Daily Star that during Eid vacation, the hospital authorities preferred running the operations by non-Muslim doctors, nurses and other staff.

If there are not enough non-Muslim staffers, health services will be provided by the Muslims, he said.

When informed that not many non-Muslim staffers were there at Nitor, he replied that the matter would be taken into consideration.