A ticket at the outdoor service of Dhaka Medical College Hospital proved elusive for 55-year-old Anguri Begum yesterday as she failed to collect one despite waiting there for four hours along with three of her relatives because of a 48-hour strike called by honorary doctors of the hospital.
Her uncle Jasimuddin was wandering around the corridor in search of a hospital staff but found all the rooms under lock and key.
Mistaking this correspondent for hospital employee, he said: “Sir, arrange a ticket for my niece, she is seriously ill and has been suffering from uterus-related problems.”
“We have come here from Haripur village of Kendua in Netrokona by a taxicab for emergency treatment. We paid the driver Tk2,700 but are now unable to collect a Tk 10 ticket. Could you please give me one?”
Anguri, with a few bags, was sitting on the corridor of the hospital’s outdoor section. She said she had no relative in Dhaka.
“If I cannot be admitted today then only Allah knows where we will end up. I am now looking for a doctor who is from my village and works here. He is my last hope,” she said.
Anguri was one of the several hundred patients who strived for collecting a ticket yesterday to meet doctors but to no avail. They were subjected to immense sufferings because of honorary doctors observing work abstention at the outdoor section protesting assault on one of their fellows.
Apart from honorary doctors, few interns and other doctors staged protest against the assault on Mominul Islam, who was beaten up in the capital’s Chankharpul area on Saturday night.
Nearly 1,600-1,700 new patients and another 700-800 old patients arrive at Dhaka Medical College Hospital for treatment every day. Because of the strike, however, only 820 tickets were sold in the first two hours, starting from 8am in the morning. Sale of tickets was abruptly stopped afterwards.
Billal Hossain, 9, son of Alek Matobbor of Atipara village in Shariatpur, waited at the outdoor section with his aunt for a very long time for a ticket but could not get one. His aunt Amena
Begum told the Dhaka Tribune that Billal was a thalassaemia patient and was diagnosed with the disease just a month ago.
“He underwent blood transfusion last week. Doctors told us to come today and admit him in the Hematology Department. We waited for 4-5 hours but could not buy a ticket,” she said, adding: “Could you please tell me
who will be held responsible if my nephew dies?”