& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Burn patients suffer as doctors duck duties

Experts pull political strings to remain absent at DMCH, do charity works elsewhere

NAIMUL HAQ And SHAHEEN MOLLAH
Most of the senior doctors at the recently launched Burn & Plastic Surgery Unit of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) allegedly do not attend critically burnt patients as they remain busy with their private charity work elsewhere and exert political influence to remain absent.
Allegations are that due to the absence of senior doctors after office hours since 2:30pm patients arriving with deadly burn do not receive proper treatment under expert guidance. When many patients arrive at the same time, the situation worsens because lack of adequate number of doctors leads to patients remaining unattended without even any initial treatment of burn injuries.
A recent incident of death of a 26-year-old housewife, Tania Akter Shima, who allegedly died after being given an intravenous drug by an attending nurse, is a testimony to such allegations.
According to various sources, the nurse who administered the drug had delayed treatment by four hours and no doctor had supervised the treatment.
Relatives of the victim said that within half an hour of receiving the painkiller the patient, suffering twenty-five per cent burn from boiling liquid, cried out in panic before collapsing. "We called for immediate help when my niece cried out. Some of us ran down the corridor to find doctors but there were none," alleged Bayezidur Rahman, uncle of the victim.
Shima, hospitalised on March 4 night under Dr Shamsuddin Ahmed, died at 7:30pm last Wednesday in bed-15 on the second floor. She was shifted to the Burn Unit from the adjacent DMCH two days after her admission since there were no beds available.
"Since admission of my daughter we have noticed that after 2:30pm no doctors pay visit to the unit leaving patients in the hands of sisters and ward-boys which is unacceptable," said Mohiuddin Howlader, father of Shima.
An investigation by The Daily Star revealed that many of the senior doctors of the burn unit often leave the capital for days without informing the concerned authorities.
Professor AJM Salek, head of the department of the unit, did not attend office for four days since February 28. Sources in the burn unit said that Professor Salek visits Chittagong once a month for reconstructive surgery on voluntary missions at Centre Point Hospital.
When contacted, Dr Salek however claimed that he was present on his duties on February 28 and the following three days. "The allegations of my travel to Chittagong are completely baseless," he said.
Dr Shamanta Lal Sen, project
director of the unit, along with Associate Professor Syed Shamsuddin Ahmed and Assistant Professor Md Abdur Rashid--also staff of the unit, had gone to Kulaura in Moulvibazar for voluntary services to perform re-constructive surgeries on cleft-lip on Sunday and Monday last.
Dr Kamrun Nahar, although appointed as a clinical biochemist for the unit, currently performs the duties of a medical officer.
When contacted about the allegations, Dr Sen admitted going on a voluntary mission to perform re-constructive surgery in Moulvibazar and said, "To perform such charity work my team and I have government orders."
Regarding the allegations of the duty doctor's absence on the day Shima died, Dr Sen said, "So far as I have investigated, it shows that two medical officers--Dr Shamim Kabir and Dr Kamrun Nahar--were present at the time of her death."
Meanwhile, Dr Shamsuddin Ahmed claimed that Shima could not have possibly died from reactions of a painkiller like pethidine.
"In fact, after administering the painkiller the patient walked with her husband in the corridor. Later she took food while she was lying in bed which may have caused obstruction in her windpipe that probably led to breathing problems and eventually to death," he said.
He also said that the relatives were requested about Shima's autopsy but they refused and took the body away.
According to sources, when the government approved building the unit adjacent to the DMCH, it also proposed sanctioning posts of at least 20 doctors and anesthetists but until now only four posts of medical officers have been sanctioned.
"We are suffering from a serious crisis of doctors which is why it often becomes difficult to manage patients during busy hours," Dr Sen acknowledged.
The unit now has ten surgeons and five anesthesiologists. The unit has no Class IV employees which also hampers patients management. The intensive care unit virtually has no manpower to run it.