DMCH, volunteers step up to save lives

Md Ismail was waiting for passengers in his battery-powered auto-rickshaw in Jatrabari's Kajla area on July 18.

A procession of students demanding quota reform was marching along the road.

Suddenly, police opened fire at the protesters.

Ismail could have just disembarked from his vehicle and run for his life. But he couldn't abandon his auto-rickshaw as he recently bought it using all of his savings.

So, he tried to turn the vehicle around and drive to safety.

But before he could do so, several bullets pierced through his chest, hand and left leg.

He was bleeding so profusely that many thought he had already died. However, when some CNG drivers saw signs of life in his body, they quickly took him to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH).

Thanks to the donors and volunteers, we don't have a blood crisis anymore. But we are going through an excessive workload. We are working day and night to serve our patients.

— A duty doctor at DMCH transfusion centre

According to duty doctors, eight bags of A+ blood had to be collected within two hours to save Ismail's life.

Ismail was only one of hundreds of patients who had received blood transfusion due to bullet wounds during the height of the quota reform protests.

According to an employee of DMCH's blood bank, "From Thursday night [July 18], we started receiving patients with bullet wounds, who were in urgent need of blood transfusion. The influx of patients was so high that we did not have any empty beds left for blood transfusion. Besides, our stocks of transfusion equipment dried up within a few hours."

"We along with some of our workers and doctors made makeshift beds with whatever we had and placed them in the motorcycle garage in front of the Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery and continued with blood transfusion," he added.

The DMCH authority started to make public announcements with megaphones so that volunteers step up and donate blood to incoming critical patients.

Thanks to the announcements, Sandhani Blood Bank, Rhythm Blood Centre and many people voluntarily came forward to donate blood.

According to Md Agibul Islam, an official of Sandhani Blood Bank stationed at DMCH, "The situation was simply unbelievable. We have seen hundreds of patients with bullet wounds. We have donated 115 bags of blood and donated numerous transfusion equipment. We could not even count the number of transfusion equipment we collected and donated."

"At one point, when we ran out of transfusion equipment at DMCH, we asked for help from common people. Many people purchased transfusion bags and equipment from wherever they could," he added.

Rhythm Blood Centre also donated 388 bags of blood to the patients at DMCH from July 19 to July 21.

Dr Rezwan, who worked with Rhythm Blood Centre at DMCH, said, "Bullet-hit patients experience acute blood loss due to external bleeding and internal hemorrhage. Even to this date, many patients are in need of blood transfusion at DMCH.

Due to excessive need of blood from July 19 to July 21, blood transfusion of previously admitted patients could not be done on time."

Now, blood transfusion of regular patients, which have been rescheduled, and those with bullet-injuries, who have recently gone through surgeries, are being done, said officials.

A long queue of blood donors and relatives of patients was seen in front of DMCH's blood bank and blood transfusion centre in the last couple of days. To tackle the crisis, the hospital authority has opened blood exchange provision for the patients in need of blood.

A notice in front of the blood transfusion centre reads, "To ensure availability of blood for all patients, according to the directives of the director of DMCH, we would like to inform that from 16/07/24, if you do not find donors that match your patient's blood group, you can collect blood for your patient from the blood bank by donating a bag of blood of any group."

A duty doctor at the transfusion centre said, "Thanks to the donors and volunteers, we don't have a blood crisis anymore. But we are going through an excessive workload. We are working day and night to serve our patients."