Reza Mahmud :
National Medical Institute Hospital has suffered much for inadequate allotment for giving medical treatment to covid-19 patients in a large portion of population in Old Dhaka.
Physicians and other officials of the hospital alleged that there are very insufficient allotments for them to give medical services for a huge number of patients.
Official sources said, the hospital has stipulated a floor for covid treatment with about 40 general beds. But there are no intensive care unit ICU beds in the hospital for covid patients.
The government has given the hospital five mobile oxygen ventilators and one X-ray machine only for giving support of covid patients. Officials and doctors said, despite their utmost efforts to give sufficient medical services to the covid patients they could not do that due to insufficient logistics supports. When contacted, Dr. A.K.M. Nurun-Nabi, Deputy Director of the hospital told The New Nation, “We have about 40 general beds in the hospital. There are no ICU or HDU beds here. There is no sufficient government allotment for us to make the covid unit strong for rending the patients good treatment.”
He said that the hospital authority are trying their own to increase capabilities in covid unit so that they can give adequate medical treatment for those patients who need emergency supports.
Sources said the hospital is situated in a high densely populated area. All of the localities in the surrounding areas are densely populated. On the other hand, there are no any sufficient alternative medical treatment center for the people of the areas.
Sir Salimullah Mitford Hospital and Dhaka Medical College Hospitals is situated far remote areas from it.
Besides, shrunken and highly busy commercially used old Dhaka streets are large barriers for emergency vehicle movement from the areas to Mitford hospital.
Similarly, all time gridlocked Sadarghat-Gulistan road also a strong barriers for quick transferring of emergency patients to the Dhaka medical college hospital.
In this situation, there is no alternative for emergency covid or non-covid patients to take admission in the National Medical Institute Hospital, sources said.
“We have made a plan to establish about four ICU beds soon in covid unit so that we can provide emergency medical care for severely seek covid patients in this area,” Dr. Nurun Nabi said.
The Deputy Director and his fellow colleagues said that thousands of people from Sadarghat, Banglabazar, Luxmibazar,Tantibazar, Sakharibazar, Ekrampur, Goalnagor, Islampur, Patuatuli, Gandaria, Jurain, Mirhajeerbagh, Dayagonj, Namapara, Murgitola, and adjacent areas are rely on the hospital for their medical treatment. Besides, huge numbers of people from the other side of the River Buriganga also depend on the hospital for their emergency and non-emergency medical services. In this covid pandemic situation, the hospital is rending its medical treatment services among the people of the vast areas, officials said.
They asked the government to allot a minimum amount for the hospital for the sake of thousands of Covid and non-covid patients in the area.
