A hospital of hope

Nimtoli tragedy transforms burn unit of DMCH into delectably different
Whereas Dhaka Medical College Hospital earned a bad name for mismanagement and malpractice on its service delivery, the Burn and Plastic Surgery Unit of the hospital concentrated its effort on providing dependable medicare to people.
The 50-bed unit with 21 regular doctors and 11 nurses set a shining example for other DMCH wards by tackling a rush of 300 patients including victims of Nimtoli fire Thursday night.
Many patients at general wards are left uncared in the corridor while victims of the Thursday’s blaze along with other burn patients at the unit got beds.
Some 17 male patients are kept in a ward. Women and children are kept in a separate ward too. Two patients are receiving Intensive Care Unit (ICU) supports.
They are receiving drugs and other services free of cost.
Siddik Mollah, 35, is a rickshaw puller. His two children, who received burn injuries to legs, hands and head, are getting treatment at the unit.
He said, “I would have found it very difficult to bear the expenses of my two children’s treatment. Thank God! We are receiving free treatment here.”
Fawzia, a schoolteacher, survived Thursday night’s incident and is now admitted at the Burn Unit. She said, “We have no complaints against their service. It will be sheer injustice if we make any.”
“I can remember the night at the unit. Patients are coming one after another. Doctors, nurses and ward boys became active immediately,” Fawzia said.
“The cleaners were busy all the time with sweeping the floor flooded with water.” She did not forget the compliments due to them.
Masuma, a cleaner of the unit, was seen taking rest sitting on the corridor of the unit. “I didn’t get a chance to have a rest since Thursday night,” said the woman. She was sweeping the floor whole day on Friday.
Medical Officer Dr Abdul Hannan said, “I didn’t sleep for 30 hours. After the whole night’s stress, I worked the whole day on Friday. In the evening, I went to my house for half an hour and then again returned to my duty.”
“Not only me, all the doctors, nurses and ward boys were busy in last two days. They didn’t have time even to think of taking rest,” he said.
“Soon after getting the news, I talked to DMCH director and managed around 60 doctors, nurses and interns from the hospital to tackle the dreadful situation. All of them worked tirelessly for long 24 hours to save those lives,” said Project Director of the unit Dr Samanta Lal Sen.
The government also lent much support. Army personnel joined the team around 2:30am to tackle the situation, he added.

Courtesy of The Daily Star