A terrible day for patients needing emergency treatment

A terrible day for patients needing emergency treatment

Dhaka, July 21 (Just News): Elderly man Mahfuzur Rahman, with leg injury, and his wife waited for hours at BIRDEM gate to get a transport to go to their Khilgaon residence on Saturday.

They said that they came to the hospital to consult a doctor in the morning.

‘We have been waiting since 1:30pm for a transport,’ Mahfuzur told New Age around 3:00pm.

‘We have heard that prime minister will go to Suhrawardy Udyan which made vehicles suddenly disappear from the roads in the city,’ he said.

Frustrated, Mahfuzur’s wife said, ‘There is none who cares about our emergencies.’

Like Mahfuzur and his wife, countless other patients visiting the BIRDEM, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University and Dhaka Medical College Hospital suffered for hours as Shahbagh area was made off-limits to traffic due to the reception accorded to prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday.

Ambulances and emergency oxygen carrying vehicles were stuck in traffic for hours due the transport gridlock caused by the cheerful processions brought out on the streets by thousands of ruling party members and followers.

Manik Mia, an ambulance driver of BIRDEM, was seen changing route after he failed to enter the hospital.

He told New Age that it had taken one hour to transport an emergency patient to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, a maximum 10 minutes’ way from BIRDEM, due to the massive traffic congestion caused by the processions of the ruling party supporters.

A man with his ailing sister was seen dozing on the footpath in front of the BSMMU.
They said that they would go to Uttara after consulting a doctor at BSMMU but they were tired of waiting for a transport.

‘As if we don’t have any sufferings’, said the man, venting his anger at the political parties’ programmes blocking the roads.

A number of patients at BSMMU and BIRDEM shared similar stories of sufferings with New Age.

About 4,000 patients visit BIRDEM every day while about 5,000 patients are treated at BSMMU daily, according to officials.

On visiting the adjacent areas, roads and allies around Shahbagh, Kataban, Dhaka University and Banglamotors were seen blocked either by the police or by the huge traffic gridlock, hindering access to the big public hospitals like BSMMU, Dhaka Medical College Hospital and BIRDEM.

The patients and their relatives said that political parties should not take up any programme that hampers emergency services and every day activities.

Police said that they had nothing to do even for the emergency patients coming and outgoing the busiest hospitals in the city.

Ramna police officer-in-charge Kazi Mainul Islam declined to comment on the programme.

Asked about the emergency measure for the patients, he said the patients had to wait when the prime minister used the roads.

Two days before the programme, Dhaka Metropolitan Police on Thursday announced that they would limit access to roads from Shahbagh crossing to Matsya Bhaban and TSC to Doyel Square from 1:00pm on Saturday till the end of the programme.

Vehicles going towards Suhrawardy Udyan and Dhaka University campus will be diverted through Banglamotors, Kakrail Church, Purana Paltan crossing, Zero Point, Golap Shah Mazar in Gulistan, Chankhar Pool crossing, Bakshi Bazar, Plassey crossing, Nilkhet and Kantaban crossing, police said.

AK Azad Khan, president of Bangladesh Diabetic Association that runs BIRDEM hospital, told New Age that about 4,000 patients visit the hospital every day.
‘Patients suffer immensely during such political programmes,’ he told New Age, adding that commenting on these programmes was meaningless.-New Age

(Justnews/ys/2320hr)