Eid Holidays: Patients endure hours of wait at understaffed Pongu Hospital

Arosh Mia, a 35-year-old autorickshaw driver from Narsingdi's Raipura, found himself in a difficult situation in the afternoon of Eid-ul-Fitr. After his right leg was broken in an accident, he knew he needed medical attention fast. He rushed to the National Orthopedic Hospital and Rehabilitation Institute (Nitor), popularly known as Pongu Hospital, hoping to get the help he needed.

Unfortunately, upon arrival at 4:30pm, Arosh was met with a sight that filled him with dread. The emergency department was overflowing with patients. Being it Eid holidays, the facility was understaffed.

Despite his broken leg requiring emergency surgery, Arosh's surgery was only scheduled for 8:30pm.

But even that wasn't the end of his wait. The emergency unit at Nitor was understaffed, struggling to keep up with the influx of patients during the three-day Eid holiday rush. Arosh ended up waiting an additional four and a half hours before finally going into surgery around 1:00am. The combination of a busy holiday and understaffing had turned what should have been a prompt medical intervention into an agonising wait for Arosh.

"My husband was in agony. I repeatedly asked the operation theatre staffers to get my husband for surgery quickly. However, many other patients were waiting outside the OT for surgery, and at least 12 patients were waiting in serial before my husband," Arosh's wife Tanzila Begum told The Daily Star on Saturday afternoon.

Arosh was not alone. Others too had to go through similar experiences.

Shamim Ahmed, 19, was also seeking treatment at Nitor, as his right leg broke after his motorcycle got hit by another motorcycle in the capital's Diabari area on Eid day.

He was rushed to Nitor just after the accident and was given primary treatment on Thursday night. He was kept at the facility for operation.

However, no doctor came to attend to him afterwards, said Shamim while talking to these correspondents on Saturday evening.

"Only a doctor came to see me this afternoon [Saturday] and just asked me how I was feeling. He left after that," said Shamim.

Nitor is the country's largest facility for treating fractures. According to the authorities, there are over 450 doctors in the hospital. Of them, less than 100 doctors were on duty during Eid holidays, and almost all of them were non-Muslims.

Of the 700 nurses in the hospital, 153 were on duty during the holidays, none of whom are Muslims, according to Nitor's roster list.

On the afternoon of Eid, there were patients in every seat in Nitor's emergency department, most of whom were sent for operation. While some were sent for observation, some returned home after getting first aid.

An official at the emergency department said the department usually sees around 200 patients a day, while during the three days of Eid vacation, the hospital saw around 250 patients daily.

On the night of Eid day, these correspondents witnessed a long serial of patients in front of the OT, while long queues of their relatives were seen in front of the emergency doctors' room.

Most of these patients came to the facility after being injured in road accidents in different parts of the country.

Thirty-year-old Arifuzzaman Arif was also waiting outside the OT on Saturday morning after he got injured in a motorcycle accident in Khulna on Friday.

"I required an emergency surgery which wasn't possible at Khulna Medical College Hospital, so they sent me here," said Arif.

Director of Nitor, Prof Kazi Shamim Uzzaman, said during the three days of vacation, patients from all over the country came to the facility.

While most were discharged with first aid, some required operation. But many had to wait for hours for surgery, he added.

"To tackle the rush of patients, an emergency response team comprising 12 doctors was formed. Apart from this, seven senior consultants, including myself, have been on duty every day during the vacation," said Prof Kazi Shamim.

When asked why less than 100 doctors were on duty, he said they tried their best to provide services with the limited number of available doctors and nurses.

On Eid day, a senior staff nurse of Nitor told this newspaper that only two nurses were on duty for 79 patients in the ward she was working at.

"My shift started at 9:30pm, and it took until midnight to give medicines and injections to all the patients.''

Seeking anonymity, another nurse said, "We are under a lot of pressure to handle the patients. But we are happy to serve them during Eid."

Meanwhile, doctors at the emergency department of Dhaka Medical College Hospital said 40 percent of the accident victims were of bike accidents.

Mohammad Alauddin, resident surgeon of the hospital, said around 120 people from Dhaka and adjoining areas came to the hospital after being injured in road accidents from Wednesday night to Sunday, while four of them died.