The launch of two-storey 80-bed intensive care and casualty unit of Barisal Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital was deferred due to acute manpower crisis that hit the hospital unit after its inauguration in April 2011, said the hospital authorities.
The SBMCH director, Abdur Rashid, said that the unit with modern equipment was set up to ensure emergency healthcare for the patients with critical injuries from traffic accidents and other casualties.
The unit, during its inception, had 4 wards, 2 operation theatres, a conference room, 10 beds for emergency patients and 66 for general patients, 4 cabins with air conditioning, oxygen supply and gas plant unit.
Local doctors had long been demanding launch of three more units under the facility to provide treatment for burn, cardiology and orthopaedic patients, he added.
The ICU complex was constructed at the cost of Tk 10 core.
Tk 5 core was spent for the construction of the building with oxygen supply and gas plant facilities, Tk 1 core for two capsule lifts and rest amounts for medical equipment, including 18 air-conditioners, blood transfusion instrument, pathological laboratory, radiology, ultrasound and CT scan machineries.
Construction of the complex started in 2005 and completed in May 2008 by Nabarun Enterprise of Dhaka, he said.
The SBMCH authorities took charge of the complex on October 2008 and it was inaugurated on April 20, 2011.
In the meantime, the building became shabby for the lack of maintainance, he said.
Abdur Rashid also said that after the inception, a 48-bed causality unit for orthopaedic patients had been launched in the first phase with the SBMCH manpower that was employed temporarily.
It was also decided that the ICU would be started soon with about 30 staff members of the hospital, but that was not implemented due to fund and manpower crisis, the director added.
Installation of modern and heavy equipment was yet to be completed in absence of skilled manpower that could operate the machines, he said.
However, the orthopaedic unit was later shifted to hospital building due to crisis of permanent manpower, he said.
Abdur Rashid pointed out another reason behind the shifting which was the building’s unique construction that only allowed using air-conditioning.
The building without open air and light flow proved that it could only be useful for the ICU and causality patients, the director of SBMCH acknowledged.
As the building was designed for some specialised treatment and remained unused for long time without proper maintenance, it became damp and many parts of it become unusable and the building needs immediate renovation, said Arifur Rahman, executive engineer of Public Works Department, Barisal office.
Courtesy of New Age
