There is no end to the suffering of patients undergoing treatment at state-owned hospitals due to the lack of beds to accommodate them. In fact they are forced to receive treatment on the hospital floors and corridors which is not only an eyesore but more importantly unhealthy and unhygienic.
The situation is the same in most state-owned hospitals including Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College and Hospital and Rajshahi Medical College Hospital.
“I’m here at the hospital to receive treatment. I’m ill and it won’t do to get picky about the floor and the corridor,” says Abdul Karim, a 52-year-old Mirpur resident who has been admitted at Shaheed Suhrawardy Hospital’s ward-5 corridor.
Meanwhile, 63-year-Salma Begum says that her son had tried his best to manage a bed but they couldn’t. “Hence I’m forced to stay on the floor.”
Meanwhile, the physicians at the hospitals themselves think that it’s unhealthy for the patients to undergo treatment on the floors or corridors. According to them, it’s not feasible to provide them with proper treatment and they are more vulnerable to germs.
Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College and Hospital Director Dr Uttam Barua says that there is double the number of patients at the hospitals compared to the 850 beds.
“Each ward has 60 beds but there are over 100 patients outside on the floors. We can’t really turn away the patients,” Barua told Bangla Tribune.
He said that the government should now turn its attention to the number of increasing patients at the state-owned hospitals.
“Just increasing the number of beds won’t ensure proper treatment. More nurses, physicians, and staff are also needed for that,” he added.
Dr Barua said that the hospital has manpower of 300 staff but the number of patients are exponentially more and as a result the patients are not getting standard care.
DMCH Director AKM Nasir Uddin told Bangla Tribune that around 1200 patients at the hospital have to receive treatment on the floor or corridors.
“There are 2600 beds at the hospital but with the current manpower, it’s only possible to give medical care to 1600 patients,” he said adding that patients can’t be turned away for their sake.
He said that since the National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopedic Rehabilitation (NITOR), National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD), National Institute of Kidney Diseases and Urology and the Bangladesh Eye Hospital don’t admit patients after 2 pm, many patients go for DMCH. As a result the hospital admits them and starts their treatment despite the lack of accommodations.
“The patients suffer due to the unhealthy conditions on the floor and we have a hard time managing the pressure as well,” he said, adding, “But we still continue providing medical care on humanitarian grounds.”
Nasir said that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has already approved a 5,000 bed international standard hospital. There are plans to build three DMCH branches in different parts of the capital including Purbachal. “The patients’ suffering will be reduced significantly once these are complete.”
“Our society itself is inequitable and the inequality exists in terms of medical care as well,” DMCH Senior Physician Dr Chinmoy Das.
He said that it’s not possible to provide treatment under such environment and the medical system must be reformed to do away with the mismanagements.
Health Rights Movement President Dr Rashid-e-Mahbub said, “Nowhere in the world are treated on the floors.”
He added that only one portion of the GDP is spent behind the medical sector which isn’t nearly enough and that the government needs to increase the budget for medical care as well as reform the management to ensure proper treatment for patients.