Motaleb Miah rushed his nephew ‘Khalil’ to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital around 4pm on Thursday.
The 12-year old boy suffered severe head injuries when he was hit by an auto-rickshaw and needed immediate medical attention.
But much to his disappointment, Motaleb Miah found there was no doctor at ward number 100 to attend to his nephew. He was left waiting anxiously for the doctor.
The doctor designated for that ward was busy attending patients at ward number 103.
An hour later, when the doctor was finally free to attend Khalil, it was too late. The doctor declared him dead.
His grief-stricken uncle only managed to tell bdnews24.com: “The boy was still alive when I brought him here.”
There were similar scenes of suffering due to doctor’s late arrival at DMCH’s wards 100, 103, 201 and 204, where mostly victims of road accidents were being treated on Thursday, the first working day after the three-day Eid holidays.
The cause of delay was the presence of only one Indoor Medical Officer (IMO) for these four wards.
Generally, an IMO along with junior doctors and interns is designated to each ward.
But on Thursday, only one IMO was seen treating the patients.
No other duty doctor at wards 103, 201 and 204 was present from 4pm to 10pm.
When this correspondent inquired about the reason behind the absenteeism, it was revealed that all junior doctors and interns were on Eid vacations leaving the sole IMO to man these wards.
Truck driver Abdul Jalil brought his wife Jesmin Begum, 27, who was hit by a pickup, to DMCH on Thursday afternoon and was seen waiting in front of ward 103 hopelessly for a doctor.
Jalil said his wife received first aid at the emergency department around 2:30pm. He said they had to wait until 5:30pm for a doctor to come and complete the procedure for her admission in the ward.
IMO for ward 100 Dr Piyush Kanti Mitra told bdnews24.com: “I’m taking care of four wards alone because of the Eid holidays.”
There are 45 beds in each ward, he said. But numbers of patients are more than double and that’s why many of them had to find a place on the floor.
“In normal days, junior doctors and interns are there. Teachers of the college (DMC) also come to see patients. That’s why we don’t face this much pressure.”
“Teachers are even coming now. But the junior doctors and inters are on Eid leave,” Mitra said.
When asked where the IMOs for the other three wards were, he said, “Well, everyone has their religious festivals. I hope everyone will join work from Sunday.”
However, DMCH Deputy Director Mushfiqur Rahman was surprised when he was asked about the absence of IMOs at those wards.
He said, “This should not happen. Honorary doctors and interns may be on vacation, but most of the IMOs (appointed doctors) are on duty.”
There are in total 275 IMOs in the hospital, he said, adding that only 30 of them were granted Eid leave.
That’s why there should be doctors so that only one IMO would not have to cover more than one ward, he said.
The deputy director claimed that there were enough doctors in the hospital to treat all admitted patients. “But since you pointed this out, I will check on this.”
Source: Bd news24