Night care gone, Dhaka Mohanagar Shishu Hospital runs with just one consultant
Only 21 of 100 beds remain in use
Highlights:
- Children's hospital suspends all night services since July 2023
- Rabeya's family must leave hospital every night after 8pm
- Hospital operates only 21 of its 100 beds
- Eighty-one of 130 sanctioned posts remain vacant
- Staff shortages prevent reopening renovated hospital wards
- Nurse pay gap worsens recruitment and retention problems
Rabeya, a little over two and a half years old, had been admitted to Dhaka Mohanagar Shishu Hospital recently with anaemia for several days. But every night after 8pm, her family had to take her home in Lalbagh and bring her back the next morning.
The hospital cannot provide any service at night.
"We come every morning, but we have to leave at night. If we could stay here, we could call a doctor immediately if anything happened," Rabeya's mother told TBS.
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According to the hospital's acting director, Dr Hamida Khatun, inpatient and night-time services have remained completely suspended since July 2023 due to shortages of staff and doctors, with all medical services stopping after 8pm.
Not just that, the hospital is running with only 21 beds although it has 100. Food supply for inpatients has also remained suspended.
The service disruption comes amid a severe staffing shortage. Five of the hospital's six sanctioned consultant posts are vacant. Its only consultant is from pathology, while both paediatric consultant posts remain unfilled.
81 of 130 posts vacant
The hospital has 130 sanctioned posts under its organogram, but only 49 are filled, leaving 81, or around 62%, vacant.
Besides the two paediatric consultant posts, consultant posts for anaesthesia, radiology and medicine are also vacant.
Only six medical officers are working against 13 sanctioned posts. The hospital also has 30 sanctioned nursing posts, but only 10 nurses are working, excluding the matron. Some are engaged in supervisory duties, further reducing the number available for direct patient care.
Hamida said the hospital usually receives around 300 patients a day, but on some days only one or two doctors are available because others may be on leave, ill or engaged in other duties.
Dhaka South Chief Health Officer Jahane Ferdous Binte Rahman acknowledged the shortage, saying the hospital lacked adequate paediatric specialists and other essential staff.
She said the limited number of doctors meant individual physicians sometimes had to see 200 to 300 outpatients a day.
Pay gap makes nurse retention difficult
Hospital officials said nurses under the city corporation are placed in grade 11, while those with similar qualifications in government hospitals are in grade 10, making it difficult to retain staff.
Dhaka South Chief Executive Officer Md Zahirul Islam said nurses often leave when they secure government jobs offering the higher grade.
"Our nurses are in grade 11, while nurses in other government institutions are in grade 10. Because of this difference, nurses do not stay even after recruitment," he said.
Zahirul said Dhaka South had written to the Local Government Division and started the process of revising the pay structure.
He said recruitment was also under way to address staff shortages at hospitals under the corporation, with notices issued for several posts.
"Direct recruitment to professional posts takes some time, but we have taken steps to speed up the process under the secretary's leadership," he said.
No sanctioned pharmacist or guard posts
Although the hospital operates a pharmacy, there is no sanctioned pharmacist post in its organogram.
Hamida said medicines are being dispensed by a third-class hospital employee whom she described as experienced in the work.
There is also no sanctioned guard post, forcing three fourth-class employees to perform security duties instead of their regular work.
Hamida said proposals covering revision of the organogram, creation of necessary posts and recruitment had been submitted several times, but final approval was still pending.
Renovated ward yet to reopen
Dhaka South has been renovating existing wards on the hospital's third and fourth floors since May 2025 at a cost of Tk1.5 crore, including replacing tiles and doors.
During the work, ward services were temporarily shifted to the ground floor, including nine beds for dengue and diarrhoea patients.
Although renovation of the original dengue-diarrhoea ward has been completed, it has not reopened because of the staff shortage, leaving the temporary ground-floor arrangement in place.
During a visit, TBS found broken beds, tables, sofas and other discarded furniture lying in the hospital compound.
Hamida said the items had been removed during renovation and listed as condemned property, and would be removed after the auction or disposal process was completed under government rules.
Jahane said the renovated wards could not yet be fully brought into operation because of inadequate manpower and the lack of a permanent kitchen and arrangements for patient meals.
She said restarting evening and night shifts would require sufficient staff for night duty, alongside those facilities.
"These things cannot be done in a day or by us alone. There is a process that has to be followed," she said.
