Patient-Overload

Feni General Hospital has 250 beds. Yet more than 500 patients are regularly admitted to the hospital. As many as 567 patients were admitted on Sunday. While the hospital authorities are struggling to handle the patient pressure, 31 of the 74 posts for doctors and 78 of the 220 posts for nurses are vacant. Of the 106 posts for third- and fourth-class employees, 74 are vacant. Treatment services are also being disrupted as several important medical machines remain out of order. Many patient...

Every bed in the hospital is full of patients. Extra cots have been placed in the corridors. In some places, treatment is being given on mats spread across the floor. More than a hundred patients are waiting outside a doctor’s room. The operating theater is ready, but there is no anesthesia specialist. A multi-million-taka X-ray machine has been installed, but it has remained idle for months because there is no technologist. This is not the picture of just one hospital. It reflects the re...