Dengue situation: Nurses struggle as outbreak worsens
In the corridors of Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), amidst the relentless wave of patients, Shapla Biswas, a nurse and a mother to an eleven-month-old, finds herself navigating the balance between duty and motherhood.
As the facility grapples with an overwhelming influx of patients, Shapla, like her fellow nurses, shoulders the weight of an extraordinary workload, particularly exacerbated by the ongoing dengue crisis which has taken 528 lives so far this year.
And she has no scope to be lenient. The mosquito-borne disease killed at least 14 people yesterday. 1594 people were also hospitalised, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
Juggling her responsibilities as a nurse with the demands of her child and the absence of her husband due to work abroad, Shapla's days are a delicate dance of professional commitment and maternal devotion. Often, she entrusts her child's care to a domestic help while she takes on the night shifts.
"Sometimes my child resists staying with the maid and breaks into tears, but the relentless pressure of my duties leaves me with no choice," she shares with this newspaper.
Within the hospital's wards, the challenges are palpable – merely four nurses per shift tend to the needs of around 100 patients daily, with the number even reaching 200 at times, she says.
Often, two nurses are occupied overseeing the process of patients' admission, while the remaining two administer essential treatments such as cannula insertions and other similar care.
Ashish Kumar Ghosh, a male nurse of ward-701, in DMCH medicine unit said there was huge pressure on Friday night as it was the date of new patients' admission in their ward.
"Among the roughly 200 patients already on the ward, we have administered an additional 38 dengue patients. It is quite difficult to give adequate care to them with so minimal resources. But we do our best," said Ashish.
Echoing the same, Md Shahed Mia, another male nurse, said even amidst such a huge workload, they cannot afford to lose their cool for a single moment as their work involves dealing with critical patients.
Like Shapla, Kumar and Shahed, the situation is more or less the same for nurses of different government hospitals.
HM Nazmul Ahsan, associate professor at Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital said nurses play a vital role in the treatment of dengue patients as all the follow-up based on the instruction of a doctor has to be maintained properly by them.
They have to constantly check pressure, pulse, temperature and some other things, he added.
However, they are struggling to keep up amid a scarcity of nurses in government facilities. This is unfair," he added.
"In most government hospitals, there are usually three nurses per 100 patients," he confirmed.
Comments