Parents of premature babies are being forced to pay at least Tk 4,000 each day for the use of incubators in private clinics due to the short supply in public hospitals. All the nine incubators at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital have been out of order for months.

Shahida Begum travelled to Dhaka from Narayanganj with her 16-day-old son who was suffering from respiratory problems and required care in an incubator.  She said, “We went to Dhaka Shishu Hospital, Ma-O-Shishu Hospital and then DMCH, but each time we were told that there was no incubator available for my baby.”

For parents such as Shirina Akter, who simply cannot afford the fees charged by private clinics, the situation is highly distressing. Shirina travelled from Bogra to the DMCH on her doctor's advice when her baby was born two months premature.

She said, “I came to this hospital because I was told it had free incubator services.  “How can I afford to pay the minimum fee of Tk 4,000 per day?”  Shirina's husband is a day labourer and she is currently living in a slum with one of her relatives at Begun Bari.

Staff at DMCH have to improvise the care given to approximately 40 premature babies in the absence of incubators.

The babies receive oxygen through cylinders and warmers are used to keep their body temperature up.

Physicians and nurses at DMCH told The Daily Star that the incubators must be fixed and that several new ones must be purchased.

Representatives from private hospitals can often be found waiting out the front of the DMCH to take desperate parents to private hospitals.

Confidential sources have alleged that a syndicate of hospital staff, including doctors, are using their links with the authorities to prevent the incubators at DMCH from being repaired.

It is alleged that the doctors receive a commission if a baby is referred to a private clinic.

Doctors at DMCH said this was a baseless allegation.

The director of DMCH, Bazle Quader, told The Daily Star that he was unaware of the problems with the incubators.

He said “I will confirm this information and then I will take steps to repair the incubators immediately.”