“It’s basically a 500-bed hospital and it’s awfully understaffed. We only have the one-third of the manpower it has in its organogram. With the dengue outbreak, we’ve to work under tremendous pressure of patients,” a senior physician at the hospital told UNB.
The physician, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it is now extremely overcrowded hospital with about 834 patients, including 354 dengue ones, against its capacity of 500. “As per my estimate, dengue patients now account for 70 percent,” he said.
According to another source at the hospital, 417 people underwent dengue tests on August 4 and 88 of them tested dengue positive. On August 5, he said, 520 people underwent dengue test and 116 of them diagnosed with dengue, showing a sharp rise in the dengue patient in 24 hours.
Lt Col ABM Belayet Hossain, assistant director (admin) at the hospital, said, “We’re admitting all the dengue patients coming to our hospital though there’s a lack of bed. We’ve to attend all of them with our existing manpower. We’re not turning down anyone.”
More importantly, Belayet Hossain said, there is no death due to dengue at their hospital. “We had admitted two child patients with serious dengue a few days back. We were worried about them. But they returned home after their full recovery.”
Another source at the hospital told UNB that they treated a total of 636 dengue patients over 10 days since July 28.
When this correspondent went to visit the hospital on Tuesday, he saw over 200 attendants of the admitted patients standing in a long queue of people to collect medicines from the dispensary of the hospital.
Sohel, 30, an attendant of a patient, told UNB that his younger brother Morshed, 20, has been undergoing dengue treatment at the hospital for five days. “As the hospital provides patients with free medicines, I’ve collected my necessary medicines for my brother showing doctor’s his prescription.”
Inside the hospital, patient beds are everywhere -- all in the open spaces -- to accommodate the overflowing patients.