A 63-year-old woman suffering from breathing complications died in an ambulance on Monday, after being refused admission or treatment at six private hospitals in Sylhet.
Monwara Begum, a resident of Gogoltula in Sylhet city, had been an asthma patient for the past 35 years. She fell sick around midnight on Sunday and was rushed to Al-Haramain Hospital in Sobhanighat area, family sources said.
The emergency unit of the hospital suggested taking her to some other hospital as it did not have an Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
She was then taken to another private hospital, where again she was denied any treatment. The hospital authorities instead suggested that she be taken to North-East Medical Hospital.
But there, too, the hospital authorities said that they did not have any oxygen supply for patients.
She was next taken to Mother and Child Hospital in Sobhanighat area - the fourth hospital of the night, for anyone keeping score - where doctors had the same depressing message: they had no ICU facilities.
The woman’s family, however, did manage to buy a cylinder of oxygen from MCH, following a big row and much agitation - none of which should characterise a life-or-death situation.
The fifth hospital the family tried was Park View Medical College Hospital, where the on-duty doctor recommended taking her to the Jalalabad Ragib-Rabeya Medical College & Hospital.
The family did as they were advised, but then at the Ragib-Rabeya Hospital, the on-duty doctor did an X-ray, observed her condition, and suggested taking her to Osmani Medical College Hospital.
By this time, the woman was suffering from intense pain in her chest. She was again shifted, but by the time she was taken to Osmani Medical College at 2:30am, she was dead.
It was the doctors at Osmani Medical College who pronounced her dead.
“My mother did not get minimum treatment even though the government has directed hospitals to provide proper treatment to patients during the coronavirus outbreak,” said Ruhul Amin, younger son of the deceased Monwara Begum.
This correspondent tried to contact the authorities of the six private hospitals over phone for their comments on the matter. However, only the Ragib-Rabeya Medical College Hospital authorities agreed to talk.
Dr Tarek Azad, the hospital director, said that doctors of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) had carried out an X- ray on the woman. The x-ray showed Monwara Begum had heart complications.
"She was also showing Covid-19 symptoms. For this reason, doctors referred her to Covid-19 dedicated Sahid Shamsuddin Ahmed Hospital." he added.
Abdur Rahman, President of Traders’ Oikyo Kalyan Parishad, said hospitals continued to refuse to provide treatment to ailing patients, suspecting they were coronavirus patients.
This is an almost unheard of situation now prevailing in Bangladesh, something that goes against every grain of what we learn about medical professionals and have come to expect from hospitals as institutions.
“Simply from a sense of humanity, all hospitals should seek to treat any patient who comes to their doors,” said Abdur Rahman.
Dr Sultana Razia, director of the Directorate General of Health Services in Sylhet, said: “We did not receive any complaints about the incident. But it is unacceptable if the medical institutions denied taking the patient in.
“I am waiting for a complaint to be filed so that we can take legal action,” added the doctor.
