Cumilla Medical College (CMC) Hospital has been experiencing an acute shortage of nitrous-oxide gas essential for the surgery.
Doctors could not perform surgery on many patients for the past few days due to the gas crisis.
Meanwhile, the nitrous oxide gas supplier at Cumilla Medical College Hospital claimed that the supply disruption was due to the pandemic. This problem will be solved in a few days, he assured.
According to CMC Hospital sources, an institution called Spectra Oxygen Limited was supplying oxygen and nitrous-oxide gas to Cumilla Medical College Hospital.
However, the company has not been supplying the gas regularly for the last three months. The hospital requires 25 cylinders of nitrous-oxide gas of at least 30kg per month. But, in the last two months, the company supplied only eight cylinders. This is much less than the requirement. The gas crisis has reduced hospital surgeries. Doctors often perform surgery without nitrous oxide gas. However, there is no shortage of nitrous-oxide in any private hospital in Cumilla.
In this regard, Md.Tauhidur Rahman, Cumilla Depot Distribution Officer of Spectra Oxygen Limited, said, "It is not possible to import enough raw materials from abroad due to the outbreak of coronavirus. As a result, gas is not being supplied as per the demand. Even then we are trying to support the hospital authorities. We gave two cylinders in July and six in August. I hope this crisis will not exist in the next few days".
A source at Cumilla Medical College Hospital said, "The irregularities in the supply of nitrous oxide gas to the hospital were chronic. Many emergency surgeries are not being performed due to the gas crisis. As a result, doctors are being discredited".
Arif Morshed Khan, an ENT specialist at Cumilla Medical College Hospital, said, "The problem has been with nitrous oxide gas for a long time. Occasionally, some gas is supplied. However, after one or two days of supply, the gas is gone. As a result, it is difficult to perform surgeries on emergency patients. The surgery could not be performed on August 23 and 25 due to lack of nitrous oxide gas. It is a kind of injustice with patients. A government hospital cannot run like this. Moreover, doctors are being discredited".
Cumilla Medical College Hospital Director Dr Mohiuddin has acknowledged the gas crisis. He said, "This was due to disruption in the production of the supplier organisation. Hopefully, there will be no nitrous oxide gas crisis next week".
