The fire at Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital (ShSMCH) Dhaka had one casualty in an infant patient, and other patients who greatly suffered.
When the fire broke out Thursday night, about 1,500 patients at ShSMCH were moved out for safety to other hospitals. The fire threat and the relocation took varying tolls on the patients, a number of whom suffered during the transition. It was during the transition that an infant died.
53-year-old Ekramul had been admitted to the hospital after suffering a brain stroke. When he was shifted to Dhaka Medical College, his breathing grew laborious. He was moved to the ICU after his condition deteriorated.
His younger brother Razzak was at Farmgate when the fire broke out. Razzak rushed to the hospital and helped move Ekramul. After about half an hour, the hospital provided an ambulance to move Ekramul to the DMC. His condition grew worse, and the brain haemorrhage began to worry the doctors at DMC.
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Ekramul is one of the many patients whose families struggled amid the infectious panic and terror during the fire to get them out of the hospital premises. Medical staff from doctors, nurses, students, attendants alike helped wheel out patients – some were even carried out on shoulders or backs.
According to Biddut Kanti Paul, deputy director of DMC, a total of 120 patients were brought in from ShSMCH – 74 male, 40 female, and 6 children. He regretted being unable to secure seats for all the patients while assuring each and every one was being treated.
He also said that since Friday morning, many patients have been leaving DMC to return to ShSMCH in order to continue their treatment with their previous doctors.
He added: “If things have returned to normal at ShSMCH, then of course we are going to let patients go back because there are some patients we could not provide treatment as they are already under the care of other doctors.”
