A sprawling maze of makeshift electrical extension leads hanging directly above floor-bound patients has exposed a critical safety hazard caused by acute overcrowding at Chittagong Medical College Hospital.
On Tuesday afternoon, a visit to the third floor of the premier tertiary healthcare facility in southern Bangladesh revealed a deeply troubling scenario in the corridor separating the medicine and radiology wards. Designations meant strictly for pedestrian movement and waiting families had been converted into makeshift overflow bays. Between ten and twelve patients, including individuals suffering from severe jaundice and acute respiratory distress, lay on the bare concrete floor with their personal belongings spread around them.
Hanging from a structural concrete pillar and secured only by thin plastic saline tubing, a single master power strip served as the central electrical hub for the corridor. Multi-plug adapters branched out across the floor, draped precariously inches above the heads of bedridden patients and their attending relatives. These improvised arrangements powered personal electric fans bought by families to combat humid conditions, alongside vital medical instruments like nebulisers required for asthma and respiratory care.
Investigations revealed that the central supply lead was routed directly from a wall outlet inside the adjacent medicine ward, as the hallway completely lacked accessible wall sockets. Faced with a lack of institutional cooling units in the corridor, desperate families purchased their own portable fans and relied on unofficial, hazardous wiring. Seven interviewed patients and relatives disclosed that the main extension lead was already hanging when they arrived, with several admitting to paying unofficial hospital attendants small gratuities to secure a line from inside the ward.
Overcrowding at Chittagong Medical College Hospital remains a systemic challenge, with the internal medicine ward routinely operating at more than 150 per cent of its sanctioned bed capacity. Senior medical staff emphasised that despite the acute resource deficit, the facility maintains a strict policy never to turn away incoming emergency patients, leaving hallway admissions as the only viable compromise.
Hospital authorities expressed grave concern over the unregulated electrical setups, pointing out the heightened risk of short circuits, electrocution, and catastrophic fires in a congested public space where rapid evacuation would be nearly impossible. Brigadier General Mohammad Taslim Uddin, Director of Chittagong Medical College Hospital, acknowledged the immense operational pressures facing the institution while warning against unauthorized electrical modifications. He confirmed that hospital management will launch immediate inspection drives across the wards to dismantle all unsafe connections, restore electrical compliance, and enforce stricter oversight regarding informal facility staff.
