A Correspondent :
Medicare services hampered to a great extent in Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH) due to an absence of senior doctors in different wards during the three days of Eid vacation from Monday to Wednesday.
This correspondent visited as many as 24 wards of the 1,313-bed hospital and the lone tertiary level hospital of the district, out of 40 on Monday and Tuesday and found no senior doctors there.
Hafez Ahmed, an elderly patient, was groaning while lying on a bed at the nephrology ward on Monday morning. His son and wife looked worried as there was no senior doctor in the ward except for a honourary medical officer.
When this correspondent entered the eye ward on Tuesday morning, the place looked almost ghostly as there were only two patients and no doctors. An on-duty nurse was seen at the nurses’ room.
“No doctor came on Monday and Tuesday to check on me,” said one of the patients Abdul Hamid, 65. Water was rolling down continuously from his left eye due to an injury.
The same condition prevailed in the neurology and ENT (ear, nose and throat) wards.
With a swollen left neck Md Tajuddin was admitted to the ENT ward. He said no doctor came to give him a follow up till 1:30pm on Monday.
Contacted, Dr Md Didarul Islam, deputy director of CMCH, said the non-Muslim doctors were on-duty during the Eid vacation.
Dr Islam said the CMCH was undergoing a crisis of doctors as around 40 posts of assistant registrars have been vacant recently.
He said the doctors who undergo postgraduate training were posted there but once they completed their training, the posts remain vacant. “Moreover, there is no post of consultant except three in dental, gynecology and family planning. How can you find senior doctors then?”
He said the CMC teachers remained standby.
“We have written to the Health ministry to change the organogram and create posts of the consultants,” he said.
