Coronavirus Unit DMCH records 91 deaths in 9 days

At least 91 people died in Dhaka Medical College Hospital’s COVID-19 unit in the last nine days since the beginning of the novel coronavirus infected patients’ treatment at the hospital.

Meanwhile, DMCH will expand its COVID-19 treatment facility from today to accommodate 600 more patients.

Of those deceased, seven were tested positive for COVID-19 infections and rest died with symptoms, the DMCH authorities said.

All the deceased at the hospital, however, was not tested for the virus infection, said DMCH director brigadier general AKM Nasir Uddin.

After much opposition from some doctors and patients, the DMCH authorities has turned its burn unit into COVID-19 unit and started admitting patients from May 2.

Around 200 patients are under treatment at the  DMCH unit, according to the official statistics.

The director said that in nine days till Sunday night, 91 patients died at the COVID-19 units.

Which means, an average of 10 people have died at the unit daily since the beginning of treatment.

He said that the hospital could not carry out COVID-19 tests for many other deceased though they had the symptoms and added that the most patients who died were also suffering from old age complicacies.

Meanwhile, the DMCH authorities are facing criticism for not carrying out tests of all the deceased and their mismanagement during treatment.

The virology department of DMCH was mainly carrying out the test. The department chief professor Sultana Shahana Banu told New Age that they had only one PCR machine which could test 188 samples in two runs a day.

‘We had plans to collect samples only from admitted patients. But, there has been a huge rush of COVID-19 test seekers at the outdoor, indoor and emergency wards, so we had to collect and test their samples too,’ she said.

With limited resource, we could not collect many samples from the dedicated unit in the last few days,’ she added.

A chemical businessman of Old Dhaka Sirajul Islam died on early Sunday at DMCH, hours after he had been admitted there.

Sirajul’s daughter Saidia Islam told New Age that her father faced mistreatment at the COVID-19 unit.

‘My father stopped breathing. I was screaming for help, but no doctor appeared for help. Then I went to doctors’ room and requested them for attending my father. By that time, my father’s condition deteriorated and he passed away,’ Saidia said.

A journalist of national daily was admitted there with COVID-19 symptoms recently and faced an ordeal during treatment.

He complained that doctors hardly attended patients there and it took several days to have his COVID-19 tests and results.

Though under fire for not delivering on their promises, DMCH authorities will expand COVID-19 treatment facility and a separate building were being readied where 600 more patients would be accommodated.

The DMCH principal Khan Abul Kalam Azad told New Age that the COVID-19 unit is already beyond capacity.

While many doctors criticised the decision to turn the burn unit into COVID-19 unit, saying that there was possibility of contamination, DMCH principal, however, said that they would take proper safety measures.

‘The point is that we don’t want to decline any patients. Dialysis and heart diseases need the most immediate treatments. We have separated dialysis treatment in three categories, one for COVID-19 patients, one for suspects and the rest for non-COVID-19 patients,’ clarified Abul Kalam Azad.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net