Move to shift patients to govt hospitals fails
A handful of diarrhoea patients were transferred to public hospitals from International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B) yesterday after the government decided to transfer patients from ICDDR,B to other hospitals as it is overwhelmed with patients.
As of last evening, no patients were shifted to the National Institute of Diseases Chest and Hospital (NIDCH) and Infectious Diseases Hospital (IDH) at Mohakhali even though the ICDDR,B was packed with nearly 800 patients, three times its capacity.
Only one patient was sent to Mitford Hospital, five to Dhaka Shishu Hospital, two to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) and seven to Shaheed Suhrawardi Hospital as of 7:30pm yesterday.
"Only one patient came from ICDDR, B around 11:00pm Monday. We had to send our ambulance, a physician, a nurse, a ward boy and a driver to bring in the patient," Assistant Director of Mitford Hospital Belayed Hossain told The Daily Star.
Resident of NIDCH Rafiqul Islam said, "We sent an ambulance to ICDDR,B around 10:00am yesterday but no patients came to our hospital even though we have all the treatment facilities in our hospital for diarrhoea patients."
ICDDR,B scientist and head of Intensive Care Unit (ICU) Pradip K Bardhan said a total of 775 patients were admitted there from morning till yesterday afternoon. From Monday noon to yesterday noon 922 patients were admitted there.
"The rate of admission shows no sign of diminishing. A huge number of patients are coming to the hospital in a critical condition as they know about this centre and have faith in its services," he said.
"We cannot force them to go to another hospital. If the hospital authorities are able to convince the patients, they can move them," he said adding that awareness campaigns are needed to inform people that they could get treatment from other hospitals in the city as those have diarrhoea units now.
While visiting Mitford Hospital around 2:30pm The Daily Star correspondent learned that since Saturday 30 diarrhoea patients sought treatment at the outdoor section and 11 of them were admitted. Around 10 patients sought treatment at the outdoor section of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) and one of them was admitted. At the DMCH, a total of 31 patients were admitted.
However, a huge crowd was seen at the temporary hospital at Haji Camp in Ashkona, which was launched yesterday. The army and the health ministry jointly run the hospital titled "Emergency Mobile Field Hospital". Around 70 diarrhoea patients turned up at its outdoor section while 11 were admitted.
Control room of the Directorate General of Health Services in the afternoon said that a total of 3,962 people were infected with diarrhoea across the country in last 24 hours and one died.
At a press briefing, Health Ministry Adviser Maj Gen ASM Matiur Rahman said 53,307 were infected with diarrhoea so far and 15 died of water-borne diseases. A total of 3,260 medical teams, 28 public mobile hospital and three armed forces mobile hospitals are working in the country, he said.
FLOOD SITUATION AND FORECAST
The Brahmaputra and the Jamuna were flowing below their danger levels at all points yesterday. The water levels of the Padma at Goalundo and Bhagyakul, the Meghna at Bhairab Bazar, the Kaliganga at Targhat and the Dhaleswari at Jagir went down further yesterday.
Flood situation in the districts of Manikganj, Munshiganj, Faridpur, Rajbari, Madaripur, Shariatpur, Gopalganj, Chandpur and Dohar and Nawabganj upazilas of Dhaka, Narayanganj, Narsingdi, Brahmanbaria, Kishoreganj and Gazipur is likely to improve further in the next 24-72 hours.
Though the small rivers surrounding Dhaka and Narayanganj saw a fall in their water levels, these rivers may fall at a slower rate for the next 24-72 hours because of intermittent rain caused by a depression.
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