Jasim, 22, a truck helper of South Begunbari, was severely injured in a crash in February. He was taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) where doctors referred him to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
But the eight-bed ICU was already under huge pressure. Jasim was told he was 32 on the waiting list and was asked to go to a private hospital.
His mother Jyotsna Begum said they would require Tk 12,000 every day if her son was admitted to a private hospital. As Jasim could not afford it, he decided to wait and eventually died after seven days in the corridor of DMCH without proper treatment.
The scene is the same at all the government hospitals. As a result, a good number of critical patients are forced to go to private hospitals where many of them receive treatment but come out penniless.
Different private hospitals are charging differently for the same ventilators, monitors and other ICU equipment, as there is no government regulation or monitoring.
For instance, Comfort Hospital charges Tk 6,000 for ventilator support and Tk 3,000 seat rent at the ICU every day. This amount is very high for the middle income group and beyond the reach of low earners.
City's Popular Hospital charges Tk 6,000 and Tk 2,400 for the same per day. Holy Family Hospital takes Tk 2,400 for ventilator and Tk 4,500 seat rent.
Director of the Holy Family Hospital Shirajul Islam said they earn minimum profit from the hospital and the money received from patients is used for salary and maintenance.
The four-bed ICU at city's Care Hospital charges Tk 6,000 for daily seat rent, syringe pump and cardiac monitor. A patient has to count Tk 12,000 all-inclusive daily charge for ICU facilities, hospital sources say.
Assistant Director (Medical Services) of the hospital Dr GM Suman said many hospitals show reduced seat rent but take extra charges for other services.
"Some hospitals are making profit through ICU services as there are few or no patients in the general wards," he added.
A group of doctors say some private hospitals have agents who ask the doctors to refer patients to them. A doctor gets Tk 2,000 in commission for sending a patient to a selected hospital and Tk 500 per day for ICU service, they allege.
Mujibur Rahman who has recently retired from the post of director (hospital) of the Directorate General of Health Services said the government has little or almost no monitoring of the private hospitals.
"No service charges have been fixed yet. Even the private hospital ordinance does not say anything about the ceiling of service charges," he said.
Iqbal Hossain Dipu, 18, an HSC student of Kobi Nazrul Govt College, was admitted to the ICU of Rushmono General Hospital in Maghbazar on April 9 for head injury.
"A broker of Dhaka Medical College Hospital lured us here. He said my son's treatment cost would be Tk 5,000 maximum. But after staying here for 25 days I got a bill of Tk 2.86 lakh," said Dipu's father Abdul Mannan Fakir, a rickshaw puller from Maniknagar in Sabujbagh.
"I sold all four rickshaws and my village property and took loans to manage Tk 1.13 lakh. The hospital is pressing me for the rest. But I am totally broke," the man cried out.
Afsana, a student of class seven, was receiving treatment at the 10-bed ICU of BSMMU Hospital for two months. Her mother Salma Nasreen said she spent Tk 12,000 every day on average.
"Still the amount is far less than that of the United Hospital where my daughter was admitted for 15 days. We had to spend Tk 40,000 every day for the same facilities."
If there were sufficient ICU services at all public hospitals at district level, poor patients might not face such bitter experience, experts say.