As high as 21 per cent of the patients with the novel coronavirus and its symptoms died at the corona unit of the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) since its opening on 2 May.
The DMCH morgue record book showed as many as 696 people died either with the novel coronavirus or with its symptoms while DMCH authorities said 3,316 people took treatment at the corona unit during the time.
Majority of them died in less than a day after being admitted to the hospital.
Those who died were brought in a critical condition or they died before medical treatment could be started, DMCH director Brig Gen AKM Nasir Uddin told Prothom Alo on Monday.
Some of them died even before reaching the hospital, he added.
He also said 50 per cent of them passed away 12 hours into admission to the hospital while 90 per cent died within a day. The death rate is above 6 per cent.
Both the medical college and hospital sources said the DMCH has prepared a report observing each and every death.
The authorities also said the hospital has only recorded names of those who died from the COVID-19 disease. Those who died with the virus symptoms were neither tested nor included on the list.
As per the DMCH authorities, since 2 May, 3,316 people took medical treatment at the corona unit and 185 people died from the novel virus until 22 June at 3:00pm.
Why so many deaths at DMCH?
A team led by DMC medicine department’s chairman Mujibur Rahman has been monitoring the deaths from the COVID-19 at the hospital. On Monday, he revealed a few major causes to Prothom Alo.
Most of the patients were critical and brought to the hospital at the last hours while majority of them had diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and long term illness.
Some of the patients needed emergency ICU support but it could not be arranged due to shortage of such facilities.
Asked about the matter, the DMC professor said those who came from remote districts inside and outside Dhaka tried at different hospitals before coming to the DMCH.
He also said some of the hospitals denied admitting patients with coronavirus and with its symptoms while some of the hospitals do not have capacity to treat emergency patients.
However, Dhaka Medical College Hospital’s 600-bed building and 220-bed burn and plastic surgery unit were prepared for the coronavirus disease treatment.
DMCH director Nasir Uddin said the hospital has a capacity to extend ICU and HDU support to 42 patients at a time.
What did relatives of the patients say?
The reporter talked to three of the victims' families. Two of the families brought their patients to the DMCH as suggested by the local physicians.
The third family said their patient was first treated by a village doctor. Rubel Hossain, 27, was brought to the DMCH on 21 June. He had been suffering from fever and cough. He was given treatment by a village doctor there. As Rubel’s situation deteriorated, he was taken to DMCH where he died the next day.
In three days between Saturday and Monday, 34 out of 14 patients came to the hospital’s corona unit from outside Dhaka city. They mostly came from Savar, Narayanganj, Munshiganj Barishal, Shariatpur, Lakshmipur, Feni and Bogra.
Physicians said the lives could have been saved if they could be given treatment earlier.
All hospitals outside Dhaka do not have centralised oxygen support, so people have to bring them to Dhaka.
AKM Nasir Uddin said at the beginning they faced some problems to organise these things, but the crisis has been eased.
The physicians said they do not support ventilation to the patients as DMCH has central oxygen line. They have nasal canola system and some ventilation for those who need emergency oxygen. They have continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy support. However, the number of Hi Flow Nasal Cannula (HFNC) is not adequate.