The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) renovated emergency department of Cox’s Bazar District Sadar Hospital has served over 100,000 patients in one year.
The ICRC in a statement on Monday, marking the first anniversary of the renovation, said local people also took the service along with the Rohingyas who are living in camps fleeing ethnic cleansing in the Rakhine State.
Healthcare staff continue to provide emergency care to the patients across the district arriving in the emergency department of the district’s main government medical facility that covers three and half million people.
Health staff in the emergency department are trained in emergency care skills; essential medication and equipment are available; and this ensures that the unit is appropriately equipped and designed to cater for the needs of the attending patients.
The department has catered for almost two thousand critical patients with a survival rate of 98 percent.
By introducing one attendant per patient in the emergency department, overcrowding was completely reduced.
Additionally, the unnecessary admission of patients in the hospital was also reduced by 65 percent, effectively helping to markedly reduce the overcrowding of patients in the hospital wards.
With the increasing threat of COVID-19 in the country, the emergency unit continues to provide emergency care to patients while ensuring preventive measures are respected like physical distancing, temperature checks, and with installation of handwashing facilities; in addition to constant disinfection of all surfaces.
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) has been provided to all the emergency staff to safeguard the health of the staff while serving the patients.
Appreciating the ICRC support, Dr. Shaheen Abdur Rahman, Head of the Emergency Department at Cox's Bazar District Sadar Hospital, said: “Earlier, 100 to 150 people used to come for medical services in the emergency department, but following the crucial renovation, we are receiving 350 to 400 people patients each day.
People’s trust on this department increased in a year and now it is a model emergency department for all other government hospitals in Bangladesh.”
Besides, the ICRC has been extending support to government health complexes in Ukhiya and Teknaf together with the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society (BDRCS) to help them provide improved health care to the communities since 2014.
Bangladesh has given shelter to over 1.1 million Rohingyas.
