At Rajshahi Medical, Patients Lie at the Main Gate for Want of a Trolley

Monirul Islam, 50, lay on a mat spread out in front of the emergency department. Relatives had brought the diarrhoea patient from Char Khidirpur, across the Padma in Rajshahi, but there was no trolley to take him inside the hospital. From 8:30 pm last Tuesday he lay in front of the main gate for about 20 minutes, while his relatives ran around searching for a single trolley.

Like Monirul, many patients every day have to wait for a trolley in front of the emergency department of Rajshahi Medical College (RMC) Hospital. The wait delays treatment even after patients have reached the hospital.

At the largest hospital in the northern region, 800 to 1,000 new patients are admitted every day, and 3,000 to 3,500 patients are under treatment at any given time.

A counter beside the emergency department supplies trolleys and wheelchairs. It currently has 60 trolleys and 30 wheelchairs. But when patient pressure rises, not a single trolley can be found at the counter. Relatives must queue for a trolley to come back, and getting one can take 20 to 30 minutes.

On Tuesday night, relatives were seen competing with one another whenever a trolley arrived at the counter. Firoza Begum, wife of Monirul, who was lying in front of the emergency department, said of her husband's condition, 'He just keeps sinking.'

The relatives of Mojibor Rahman, 50, who came from Shahapara in Chapainawabganj, also had to wait about 20 minutes for a trolley. The patient's relative Md Al-Amin said 20 minutes were lost just getting a trolley.

In a room of the hospital's old emergency department, nearly fifty broken trolleys lie dumped. Because they are left unrepaired, a large share of the hospital's trolleys is out of use, which has deepened the shortage at the counter.

Relatives' lack of awareness also contributes to the crisis. After taking a trolley to a ward, many return it late; some do not deposit it back at the counter even when the patient no longer needs it. As a result, trolleys stay blocked for other patients.

Hospital spokesperson Dr Sheikh Shamim Ahmed said there is not always a trolley shortage, but when relatives do not return trolleys quickly, it becomes hard for other patients to get one. He said steps would be taken to repair the broken trolleys: 'Some trolleys are lying out of order. If they are repaired and given to the counter, the shortage will ease. I will speak to the director about this today.'