Patients being forced to stay on overcrowded corridors and on ward floors had been a common feature of the Dhaka Medical College Hospital since its inauguration in 1946.
However, the scenario at the DMCH – one of the biggest hospitals of the country – had undergone a drastic change with its recent expansion.
Although the prime minister inaugurated the DMCH-2 on October 3, the expanded facilities finally started its full operations only in recent days, causing a sharp 30% drop in the number of indoor patients at the 1700-bed DMCH.
The recent changes saw medicine and other medicine-related departments such as nephrology, neurology, physical medicine, endocrinology, hematology and cardiology being shifted to the DMCH-2.
Out of all the beds at the DMCH-2, 430 have reportedly been allotted for the 11 units of pure medicine departments, while the rest have been assigned for 13 other medicine-related units.
DMCH Director Brigadier General Mustafizur Rahman told the Dhaka Tribune that most of the concerned departments have already shifted their patients to the new buildings.
The doctors, nurses and supporting staff of the concerned departments and units have moved as well, while clinical pathology and blood bank would also be shifted soon, the director added.
He said planning was going on to find the best use for the newfound vacant spaces at the DMCH, while there were plans to bring surgery, gynaecology and other wards to the same block. A committee has already been formed to chalk out the suggestions, Brig Gen Mustafizur added.
Meanwhile, there have been disputes over the occupancy of the rooms in the DMCH-2, as the concerned committee had only allotted the beds, but not the rooms of the departments. This has reportedly resulted in senior and junior doctors occupying the rooms of the DMCH-2 as per their own desire.
Dr Musfiqur Rahman, deputy director of the DMCH, said an eight-member committee, headed by Professor of medicine Dr Billal Alam and Assistant Director (administration) Khaja Abdul Gafur as member secretary, has been formed to allot the rooms properly.