Ibn Sina hesitates to treat one of their own, nurse dies

A nurse from Ibn Sina Hospital died without admission at the same hospital's emergency yesterday, after allegedly being refused on grounds of her not having a Covid-19 clearance certificate.

The nurse was also a 2018 graduate of Ibn Sina Nursing Institute's diploma programme in nursing and midwifery.

22-year-old Habiba Sultana had a brain stroke on June 10 and was admitted at the National Institute of Neurosciences at Agargaon. On Saturday night, her condition deteriorated and the doctors informed the family that they should look for empty Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds.

"We asked around and decided on Ibn Sina since that was where she was employed. The doctors had tested her for Covid-19 and she was found to be negative, so we were confident that admission would not be a problem," said Rupa Moutushi, aunt of the deceased.

Once they reached the hospital, however, they found that the Covid-19 clearance certificate was missing from the medical folder handed over by the public hospital.

"It was handwritten on her file that the patient is 'Covid-19 negative', but that was not enough for the doctors at the emergency," claimed Moutushi. She claimed that the doctors from the neurosciences institute also spoke to the Ibn Sina doctors and confirmed that Habiba is not Covid-19 positive.

She was brought to the hospital at 1:30 am at night.

"We begged the doctors for 2 hours and promised to just give her some primary treatment while we make other arrangements, but they wouldn't touch her. We spoke to the resident physicians of the neuro-medicine department and implored them to save her," lamented Moutushi.

One of the resident physicians, who requested not to be named because he could not speak in an official capacity, confirmed that he knew about the patient.

"The patient had difficulty breathing. These patients usually get admitted into the flu corner and are made to undergo a test. They cannot be taken into the ICU directly. This is the hospital's protocol. The emergency department was asked to follow the protocol," he said.

Unfortunately, Habiba's condition was such that the flu corner would not have sufficed -- she needed the ICU, and so admission was denied, her family claimed.

"We called the 999 emergency hotline. They sent over police from Dhanmondi police station. At 3:30 am the police came to discuss. During all of this, her limbs had started going limp -- we were losing her. The police quickly instructed the doctors to take her to the emergency," described Moutushi.

The doctors did, but when they hooked her to the electrocardiogram machine, the monitor only showed a single flat line.

"She was moving, she was breathing when we brought her to the hospital. She died during the two hours of negotiations," alleged Moutushi.

Senior general manager of Ibn Sina Hospitals, Anisuzzaman said, "She was brought dead, or when she was close to death. We give primary treatment to patients who are Covid-19 suspects while simultaneously getting them tested. She would not have survived that procedure."

A missing piece of paper, a paper that is flimsy enough to get misplaced, or get blown away by the wind is all it took for Habiba's life to come to an untimely end.

The nurse was buried in Naogaon. She was the elder daughter and left behind a sister studying in fourth grade.