Reza Mahmud :
The Sarkari Karmochari Hospital at Fulbaria, Dhaka city is itself sick. Its all Intensive Care Units are not in order.
“Most of the machines and equipments of the 150 beds hospital do not work. Specially all the ventilation units render no service from its beginning,” says an official on condition of anonymity.
The hospital is situated beside Fazlul Haque Muslim Hall of Dhaka University. It has been built for the government employees and for giving limited service to the poor people. The ICU of the hospital were installed in October 2016.
When contacted, Sadia Sajmin Siddiqua, hospital Superintendent, told The New Nation on Wednesday, “All the ICU units are not in function. We are trying to restore those.” In reply to a question as to ‘why all the new machines are out of order?’ She said, “There were some problems for the government in buying and repairing any machinery.”
The Superintendent said, “One machine we found workable. But we want to avoid risk. If we admit any patient, it will be a risky decision, because the other machines are not alright.”
She said also that the machines are not new, as those were bought in 2013 when the Prime Minister opened the new building of the hospital.
But the officials said that the machines had not been seen ever workable after those were set in the ICU.
Sources said, the machines had not been collected transparently. “The authority of the hospital might have linked to corruption. A fair investigation can unearth the truth,” said one of the employees of the hospital.
A patient, who is a government employee, said preferring anonymity, “When it is a matter of luck to get a seat in the ICU in any government or private hospital, all the six beds of ICU are inactive here.”
Some patients and their relatives alleged that a group of dishonest doctors and officials are responsible for anarchy. They use to refer serious patients in other private clinics and hospitals for a handful of booty.
It causes huge problem for the poor patients, added one of them. The officials said, there are sufficient number of doctors, nurses and other staff, but smaller number of patients.
The Superintendent said 100 seats out of total 150 beds are found full most of the time.
The official data shows that about 1, 69,338 patients had taken treatment from outdoor of the hospital in 2016.
