Shawdesh desk:

With the country’s dengue situation taking an alarming turn with the spike in deaths and cases from the mosquito-born disease, public hospitals are failing to deal with dengue patients for shortage of doctors and nurses coupled with severe accommodation problem.

Record shows that a total of 32,977 dengue patients have been admitted to different hospitals across the country till date this year. Of them, 24,999 patients were hospitalised in July. The country has recorded 176 deaths with 129 alone in the first 23 days of this month.

While visiting four public hospitals in the capital – Mugda Medical College Hospital, Kurmitola General Hospital, Dhaka Medical College Hospital and DNCC Hospital – on Saturday and Sunday our Daily Sun correspondent found that these hospitals are overflowing with dengue patients.

Most of the patients, who have been admitted to these hospitals, are the residents of different areas in the capital. The number of dengue-infected people coming from other parts of the country is also rising rapidly.

“I was suffering from severe fever, body pain and vomiting. There is no seat vacant in the hospital. I have somehow managed a little space on the walkway. No doctor has visited me yet. My platelet count has come down to 55,000,” Akhi Islam, who got admitted to Mugda Medical College Hospital on Thursday night, told the Daily Sun.

Ankhi said, “I am unable to stand up and get out of bed as my condition has deteriorated, but I need to go to the nurse station for necessary service.”

She alleged that the hospital doesn’t have sufficient nurses and medicines, including saline. “I’m having a terrible experience here amid the extreme heat as there is no ceiling fan around.”

Admitting the sorry state of Mugda Medical College Hospital, Dr Niatuzzaman, Acting Director of the hospital, said they have been trying their best to treat the patients with limited resources.

“Over 1,300 dengue patients have been admitted to our 500-bed hospital, which is more than double the capacity. Fourteen more doctors and 16 nurses have recently joined the hospital. We’re distributing duty through a roster system, but the number of doctors and nurses is still inadequate to properly serve the patients,” he said.

Dr Niatuzzaman also said some 286 cleaners work 24 hours in the hospital on outsourcing basis but the Ministry of Finance has asked the hospital authorities to terminate service of 114 of them.

“In view of the grim situation at the hospital, we have written a letter to the ministry saying if we sack them right now, the whole medical care system of the hospital will collapse,” he added.

Kurmitola General Hospital is also facing the similar situation. The hospital authorities have already terminated the job of 190 out of 264 staff who were working on outsourcing basis since the beginning of coronavirus pandemic.

As a result, providing essential medical services has become a tough challenge for the hospital authorities. Staff of the hospital’s pathology department were struggling to prepare dengue test report for the patients.

“Patients and their relatives are coming to us to get their dengue test report quickly. But we are unable to prepare the report in time as we are overburdened with work. This is really frustrating,” a staff of the department, on condition of anonymity, told the Daily Sun.

The hospital’s male medicine, female medicine and pediatrics wards are serving dengue patients keeping them isolated from others. Patients expressed their satisfaction over the cleanliness of the hospital as well.

Dengue patients in Dhaka Medical College Hospital are having worst experience among all the public hospitals in the capital. The corridors of the hospital lie littered with filthy water all over and piles of garbage kept next to it.

Patients and their relatives were seen covering their noses to avoid the bad smell. At least two children infected with dengue have been kept in the same bed. Children were also receiving treatment on balconies, floors and corridors. There is no empty space anywhere.

Visiting ward no 207, 208, 209 and 210 of the old building and six wards on the fifth, sixth and seventh floor of the hospital’s new building, this correspondent has found that dengue-infected people are being given treatment along with regular patients as Dhaka medical authorities are yet to open a separate dengue corner.

Many of the dengue patients at the hospital are not using mosquito net thereby posing serious risk for other patients getting infected with the deadly mosquito-borne viral infection.

Brigadier General Nazmul Haque, Director of Dhaka Medical College Hospital, said they have designated separate nurses and doctors for dengue patients and are seriously considering to set up a dengue corner.

The DNCC Dedicated Covid-19 Hospital has now been declared dedicated for treating dengue patients. The medical services for dengue patients in the 800-bed hospital are comparatively satisfactory as it still has vacant beds. Several public hospitals of Dhaka are sending their patients there.

Dr Nandita Saha, consultant of the hospital, said 386 dengue patients have been admitted in the last one week since the hospital has been declared dedicated for dengue patients. One of them aged 65 years died.

“Patients are coming from different areas of Dhaka and other parts of the country with most of them having fever, while some have shock syndrome. We monitor critical patients at ICU and others in wards,” she said.

Dr Nandita Saha also said they don’t have perfect set-up for child patients but they are treating other dengue patients properly.