A Covid-19 infected family complains of mismanagement at Ctg General Hospital

Shamanta Akhter is being treated at Chittagong General Hospital after she tested positive to Covid-19 for the second time. She shares the same room and bathroom with other patients in the hospital.

Shamanta's father Omar Ali, a commercial assistant at a garment factory in the city, is anxious about his daughter because he experienced some mismanagement at the hospital. He also said his daughter got infected for the second time probably because many patients were kept together, without maintaining a physical distance.

Among the family members, Omar Ali first tested Covid-19 positive and was admitted to Chittagong General Hospital on April 9. After recovery, he returned home on April 22. Four other members of his family also tested positive, but they returned home after treatment.

Fortunately, his three-and-a-half-year-old daughter, who came in contact with all of them, tested negative.

Omar Ali said that while he was in the hospital, he was given Reuquinol and Azithromycin. Doctors used to visit him at noon every day maintaining a safe distance. Besides, nurses visited him thrice a day.

"For the first three days, the hospital provided eggs and vegetables. Later, we were provided chicken, eggs, and fish. I have heard that various institutes provide such food," he said.

However, there were 40 patients in the ward and there was only one sink and bathroom for all of them. There was no drinking water for the first two days. Many patients drank tap water and got sick. Later, he got some mineral water from outside, Omar added.

Mismanagement in providing food started since the onset of Ramadan. Lunch was provided in the afternoon. But no food was given to female ward 10 though the male ward got food. The authorities told him that there was no food left for the female ward after distributing food in the male wards, he said further.

When asked about the problems at the hospital, the director of the hospital Dr Ashim Kumar Nath said, "No general hospital has personalised bathrooms. There were some problems with food since Ramadan started, but we will solve them within a couple of days."

Covid-19 patients in Chattogram are treated at the Chittagong General Hospital and the Bangladesh Institute of Tropical and Infectious Diseases. There are 10 ICU beds in the general hospital.

At present, 28 Covid-19 patents are being treated at the hospital, he added.