Construction work of DMCH oxygen plant begins

An oxygen plant is being built at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), the construction work of which has started behind the burn unit as assigned by the authorities.

According to the authorities, once the work is completed, the oxygen crisis faced by the DMCH will be alleviated.

On Tuesday, Brigadier General Nazmul Haque, director of DMCH, said: “The oxygen plant will be built with Indian funding. Once built, it will play a key role in alleviating the oxygen crisis.” 

He said that the plant would supply oxygen directly to the wards of the hospital.

"A 50-bed isolation ward will be built next to the oxygen plant with funding from the Asian Development Bank [ADB]. Besides, with ADB funding a 15-bed ICU will be constructed on the fifth floor of the new building of DMC Hospital-II,” he added.

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Keeping the coronavirus situation in consideration, the DMCH authorities have taken up measures toward some other changes and development works as well. 

Ashraful Alam, acting deputy director of the hospital, told Bangla Tribune that the new building of DMCH had a medicine department. In the current context, it had been closed down and turned into a Covid-19 unit.

When the Covid-19 situation was brought under control, the department of medicine would again treat patients there, he added.

He said: “The DMCH currently has 2,600 beds. Normally 3,000-3,500 patients are admitted here. At present, there are 800 Covid-19 patients alone.”

Ashraful Alam said that currently the ICU of this hospital had about 70 beds, including 32 for general patients and 33 for Covid patients. However, there will be 15 more ICU beds with ADB funding. 

It was not enough to have even 100 beds in such a big hospital, he added.