Covid-19 is spreading rapidly in the villages of Lakshmipur increasing the number of corona infections and deaths at an alarming rate every day.
In this situation, the pressure of ailing patient has increased few times in the hospitals of Lakshmipur dostrict. However, the health services at Lakshmipur’s Kamalnagar Upazila Health Complex are being disrupted due to lack of manpower.
In the beginning of the Corona pandemic a Central Oxygen system was set up at this hospital, even that could not be launched due to manpower crisis.
According to the Upazila Health Department office, the Upazila Health Complex was upgraded from a 31-bedhospital to a 50-bed hospital in 2014. Yet the 50-bed health complex is running with the infrastructure and manpower of the 31-bed hospital.
Out of 26 doctor’s post, only 10 are cuurently occupied and out of 50 only 22 staff member’s post are occupied. There are eight staffs in place of 24; there is only one ward boy in the entire hospital and no cleaners at present.s
At the beginning of Covid-19, a central oxygen system was set up in the health complex at the initiative of the Upazila Parishad. There are 2 oxygen concentrators in the account book and no ICU. Although a long time has passed, the central oxygen system is still not being used for the patients due to lack of manpower. Instead oxygen cylinders are being used which run out within a short span of time.
Health officials said Siraj Mia, a staff of the hospital had recently died of corona infection so, there was some problems regarding running the central oxygen supply system.
Meanwhile, several times more patients are being admitted to the hospital than the capacity at present. Men, women and children are being admitted to the hospital with corona symptoms. Owing to bed crisis, patients with fever, cold, cough and diarrhea are being treated side by side.
Hundreds of patients are being treated outdoors every day. Of these, one hundred and fifty patients are admitted in the hospital. Doctors and nurses are struggling to treat this enormous number of additional patients. On the other hand, the hospital does not even have continuous power supply, said the victims.
Senior staff nurse Mukta Begum said that she is struggling to provide services to additional patients including corona patients as they are undermanned. This is disrupting the service activities of the hospital. Hospital staff Md Shahjahan said he had to do all the cleaning work of the hospital as there were no cleaners.
Ismail Hossain Raju, an environmental activist in the area, said the central oxygen system of the hospital, located in the coastal area of Meghna, had not been commissioned due to lack of manpower due to lack of doctors and nurses.
This is disrupting the health services of the hospital.
Meanwhile, Kamalnagar Upazila Health and Family Planning Officer Dr Abu Taher acknowledging the manpower crisis said the launch of the central oxygen system was a temporary problem.
If the situation at the hospital deteriorates further, it will be difficult for them to handle it as the corona situation is deteriorating in the area. Hopefully, some of the doctors and nurses have already recovered from the corona, he added.
Abu Taher said 21 corona infected people were identified in the last 24 hours till Monday in Kamalnagar while, 428 people were infected in total. There are currently 155 people undergoing corona treatment there. At present the detection rate in Kamalnagar is 30 percent. According to the district health department, a total of 76 people died of corona in the district. About a hundred people have died with corona symptoms. A total of 5,676 people have been affected in the district so far.’
