Well-equipped, short-staffed

Ferdousi Begum was brought to Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital (SSMCH) in Dhaka after doctors at a local clinic at Jalkuri in Narayanganj tried everything they could think of to alleviate her chest pain but failed. 

It was almost 9:00pm. Doctors at the emergency department examined Ferdousi, aged 22, and advised her to get an electrocardiogram (ECG) and two blood tests done.

As she was groaning in excruciating pain, her brother Abdul Qayum was told by hospital staff that they would have to get the tests done somewhere else since no medical technologists were available at the public hospital at the time.

The emergency department has recently been modernised and equipped with new medical instruments. But that doesn't help the patients much.

Due to acute shortage of manpower at the clinical pathology, radiology and imaging departments, many of around 250 patients, who come to the emergency department every day, are left with no choice but to get their diagnostic tests done at private hospitals. 

More often than not, patients suffer when they seek services there after 2:00pm since, the hospital authorities said, most of the existing manpower are available in the morning shift.

According to a senior health technologist, the radiology and imaging departments have only six staff. Five of them work in the morning shift, and one in the afternoon only to carry out X-rays for emergency cases. There is not a single person to work in the night shift.

Similarly, the clinical pathology department has staff mainly for the morning shift. For the afternoon and night shifts, there is only one person designated to provide services in very severe cases and mostly to deliver reports.

“We became helpless” in the middle of the night on February 16, said Abdul who finally managed to take his sister outside for the tests and then got her admitted to the Suhrawardy hospital.

The treatment was good and Ferdousi got well fast, but what he cannot shake off from his memory is the sheer panic he felt that day.

Monowara Begum had a similar experience one evening in the last week of January when she took her 11-year-old son Samir to the 550-bed hospital after he had swallowed a coin.

Samir needed an X-ray, but it was not possible there due to lack of staff.

“I was then forced to have Samir's X-ray done in a private diagnostic centre,” Monowara said. The test cost her Tk 1,400 whereas she would have to pay only Tk 400 at the Suhrawardy hospital.

She expressed shock as to how a public hospital, which sees 2,500 patients daily from around the country seeking service, have issues like manpower shortage unaddressed.

The improved emergency department was inaugurated by Health Minister Mohammed Nasim on February 5 this year.

It is supposed to be functional 24 hours a day, but it seems all but technologists are set to provide most of the medical tests that any tertiary hospital should have arrangements for.

The number of patients coming to the emergency department is on the rise, but they are not getting services like MRI, CT scan, Ultra-sonography and X-rays mostly in the afternoon and night shifts, said an emergency medical officer.

As a result, they have to go to other hospitals in the city. Many are also advised to get tests done at nearby diagnostic centres.

SSMCH Director Prof Uttam Kumar Barua acknowledged the shortage of medical technologists, but said the hospital authority wrote to the health ministry six months ago asking for permission to hire people for the vacant posts.

At least 30 health technologists are required to run the hospital's diagnostic centres round the clock, while there are less than 20 now.

“We haven't received any approval for recruitment,” Uttam Kumar told The Daily Star.

A 20-bed casualty ward is being built to provide treatment to patients with serious injuries and so people should be hired to offer services there as well.

Health Secretary Sirazul Islam said he was aware of the matter. “We are seriously working on it and hope to start the recruitment process soon.”